


Spooktacles

by ExtremeEvil95



Series: Spooktacles with Clary Fray & Simon Lewis [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Alec is just skeptical, Background Clary/Isabelle - Freeform, Bisexual Isabelle Lightwood, Bisexual Jace Wayland, Clary & Simon are ghost hunters/youtubers, F/F, Falling In Love, First Kiss, I have no real knowledge of ghost hunting and take everything from TV ok, It's fluffy and stupid and a good time in general, Izzy & Magnus have a beauty channel together, Jace Wayland is a Lightwood, Jace is the cameraman/tech wizard, Lesbian Clary Fray, M/M, Pansexual Simon Lewis, Past Jace/Maia, Past Simon/Raphael - Freeform, Pining Jace Wayland, Pining Simon Lewis, The Ghost Hunting/Youtuber AU no one asked for, attempts at being funny, background alec/magnus, based on Buzzfeed Unsolved and Ghost Adventures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2018-12-26 01:00:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 25,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12048033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExtremeEvil95/pseuds/ExtremeEvil95
Summary: Spooktacles, a Youtube channel about the paranormal lead by Clary Fray & Simon Lewis, have built a career on going to abandoned and reportedly haunted places to search for signs of the paranormal. Along with their cameraman/technical wizard/friend Jace Lightwood, they travel all over the New York state to find the places no one else dares to go.When famous beauty bloggers Isabelle Lightwood & Magnus Bane (more commonly known as Jace’s sister and Jace’s brother’s boyfriend) flies in from Los Angeles to join the trio along with a ever so skeptical Alec Lightwood, they head out to spend a night at Letchworth Village: an old, abandoned mental institution.What they should’ve expected, is that ghosts aren't the only thing on the agenda.





	1. "Who you gonna call?"

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> I've been writing on this thing for what feels like ever, so I'm so glad to finally be able to share the first chapter with you all. It's gonna be another part, but I'm not sure when it will be out since I have two other stories I'm working on as well.
> 
> I watch a lot of Ghost Adventures and Buzzfeed Unsolved, so this is the product of that obsession more or less. Of course there had to be some proper paranormal investigation AUs with Youtube on the side because I'm a sucker for Social Media AUs: one of my biggest weaknesses tbqf.
> 
> In this, Jace has both glasses and his hair is long enough to have it in a small bun like Dom had at some occasions, because that look will be the death of me.
> 
> Anyway, I'm not English and it's most likely grammatical errors present, but I've tried to correct the most obvious ones.
> 
> Enjoy! x

To be alive sucks, Jace concludes as he makes his way up the steps to the campus library. He’s dealing with a hungover the devil personally sent him as a gift, along with the stress of the upcoming deadline on his project about Norse mythology; and, the cherry on top of his ice-cream of despair, he’s also freshly dumped so who could blame him for looking like someone had pissed all over his breakfast this morning?

Life had literally pissed all over him the last few days. He deserves to wear his sunglasses indoors and look like a complete asshole, because he’s  _moping_ and need to show the world just how bad he feels. Not that anyone really cares, since his only, good friend in New York is Maia, whom now is his  _ex-girlfriend._ They left things with the promise to still be friends, sure, but she needs  _time_ before that could happen.  _Time_ as in Jace will probably not see her again until she’s back from London. Two years from now.

To be alive  _really_ sucks.

Not even his coffee tastes like it should. It’s cold and a bitter taste lingers at his tongue: quite frankly, it makes Jace want to head back to his apartment and spend the rest of the year in his bed. His one, true love: it would never go to London to study marine biology with the best professors in Europe and  _leave him behind_ -

Jace sighs. He needs to stop thinking about Maia, because seriously? Imagining a love story with his own bed is a new sort of low. Is he really that desperate? No wonder Maia left him. Not even his good looks could save his derailing personality.

The library is thankfully not full of students for once: the hour just after lunch and before the 3PM classes end is a dream. Jace pushes his sunglasses up, letting them rest on top of his head while he searches after the right section. It’s brighter than he expected it to be, he squints to prevent himself from going completely blind: there’s a slight throb in his head that increases his need to just lay down somewhere and rot. Much better than spending his day writing about Norse mythology at least.

As a blessing from the higher powers, the books Jace’s after are all in. He’s so full of relief that it makes him want to cry: they’re all thick and weigh way more than a book should be allowed to do, but Jace carries them with ease over to the counter.

The librarian eyes him knowingly as she offers a quiet ”good day,” which Jace replies too with the ghost of a smile curving his lips. He may be on the verge of death, but he still have his manners. Taking the books with him to a nearby table, he begins to stuff them into his backpack. The thought that he soon would be home again was a light in the dark.

His bed. Ice-cream.  _Marley & Me._ A good cry.

For being a amateur filmmaker, he truly had a flawless taste in films. Especially his tearjerker favourites. Throw an animal into the mix and he would be crying nonstop for the whole movie.

That’s when he spots a redheaded girl and a guy with glasses at the table next to him. They’re talking loud enough for Jace to hear, he’s really trying not to eavesdrop but he’s tired and everything hurts so it’s not going well.

”- mon, I think it’ll be great for our next search. I’ve sent some emails to the groundkeepers, hopefully they’ll let us come and take a look. According to a few groups online, there’s been reports of ghost sightings there -”

Jace almost drops the book he’s holding on the ground.  _Ghosts_? He can’t help but to smirk over the fact that they’re talking about searching after ghosts in the same way someone would be discussing the weather. Who even did such a thing?

Intrigued by the pair’s discussion, Jace pretends to read in his book while he listens to them talk. The redhead's turned away from him: he’s never seen hair as red as hers, the locks pulled back into a ponytail that moves along with her: bouncing up and down slightly when she gesticulate to the other. Her voice is light: eager even, she must really be into this ghost stuff. Wow.

Jace glances to the side, trying to get a better look at the guy with glasses without showing that he’s actually looking at the pair. The redhead blocks his view with her hair for most of the time, but when she leans down to get something from her bag, Jace feels his heart miss a beat. And another one.

The guy is  _cute._ Illegally cute even.

Brown hair, nice face and Jace catches a glimpse of a Stormtrooper on the guy’s shirt. When the guy looks in Jace’s direction, the blonde ducks his head and stares down at his book, pretending to be deeply captivated by the pages.

”I mean, yeah, sounds cool Clary, we’ll definitely head there if they let us, but we should think about finding someone that could work the camera. Like, I’m good at it but I think it’d be better if we found someone that like,  _knows,_ what they’re doing.”

Jace stops pretending for a second. He stares at the page in front of him while he repeats the guy’s words in his head. This ghost hunting duo was in need for a cameraman, huh? Was this an act of fate, after everything Jace had been through over the last few days? Placing him here, right next to a pair of people that needed something he could do? 

   Fate truly picked weird moments to show itself.

Without thinking twice about it, Jace places his book in the backpack and heads to the two strangers’ table. He strides with confidence: the girl -  _Clary,_ he remembers the cute guy calling her - looks up from where she’s leaning against the table when he comes to halt next to her. While she offers him a small, yet confused smile, the guy simply stares at him like Jace had two heads.

Jace clears his throat. ”Hi. I didn’t mean to interrupt, but were you two talking about searching after ghosts?  _Real ghosts?”_ He hopes he doesn’t sound too skeptical: not that he’s much of a believer, but Jace likes to think himself as a quite open-minded person. Just because he hadn’t experienced any supernatural occurrences, except for the miracle that was Magnus Bane making Alec -  _Alec!_ \- blush and smile, didn’t mean that there wasn’t anything out there.

Between Clary and the guy takes a silent battle place. It’s a spectacular sight to to see how people can have entire conversations without even opening their mouths: Jace feels like he’s intruding, because the guy looks at Clary in a way that makes Jace feel like he’s not keen on letting Jace know anything about what they’re doing: Clary, on the other hand, seems to think differently and she flashes Jace a bright smile when the other guy eventually gives in.

Jace didn’t want to be on her bad side, that was one thing for sure.

”Yes, that’s right. I’m Clary Fray,” she holds out her hand towards Jace (stains of paint over her skin, Jace notices,) whom takes it, ”and this is Simon Lewis: partner in crime, life and the search for the paranormal.” The guy gives a little wave, but say nothing.

”I’m Jace. Jace Lightwood,” Jace presents himself, shaking the guy -  _Simon’s_ \- hand as well. While Clary’s hand was warm, Simon’s the complete opposite: he’s cool against Jace’s palm and it sends a shiver down the blonde’s spine. He stops himself from pulling his hand away, instead he lets Simon be the frist one to pull back after a few seconds and instead turns to focus on Clary again. ”Okay, so what do you do? Like with the ghosts? Do you hunt them down or what’s the deal?” he asks, trying to sound interested and not like he was making fun of them. It was not everyday you stumbled upon someone that liked to hunt for ghosts on their spare time.

”We don’t  _hunt_ them,” Simon’s rubbing at the bridge of his nose, frown in place. He doesn’t look at Jace: apparently the table’s a much better option. ”We go to places, film it for our channel and try to make contact with the other side.”

Channel? As in  _Youtube_  channel? Wow, Jace is impressed. He knows that Izzy and Magnus run a channel together on the side of their studies: they do advanced make-ups on each other and post them online, Jace had only seen a few of their videos but the little he’d seen was amazing. He had no idea Youtube could be used for paranormal investigations: then again, why wouldn’t it be used to post material of paranormal investigations?

”We run a Youtube channel together,” Clary supplies, confirming Jace’s inner speculations. ”Maybe you’ve heard of it?  _Spooktacles_?”

Jace blinks. What kind of name was  _Spooktacles_? Clary looks at him all excited, he doesn’t have the heart to point out that the name’s, quite frankly, rubbish. ” _Spooktacles_? No, can’t say that I have.”

”It’s a ghost pun,” Simon blurts out; briefly, he looks at Jace before meeting Clary’s gaze instead. ”What sort of glasses do short-sighted ghosts wear? Spooktacles.”

Dear god _no._ The pun’s so dry it puts the Sahara desert to shame; Jace stares at Simon with utter disbelief, because somehow he just  _knows_ that Simon came up with the joke. Jace’s not sure if he should laugh or cry.

”That’s.. creative,” he says in lack of better words to describe just how awful the pun is.

Simon blushes.  _Blushes._ Confirmation right there that he was the creator of the stupid joke.

”We wanted something short and easy to remember,” Clary explains, seemingly unable to not smile all the time. ”It stands out compared to the other paranormal channels: everything’s so serious and dark all the time, we don’t take ourselves too seriously so we try and have some fun with it.”

She cocks her head to the side, narrowing her eyes slightly. ”You don’t happen to be good with cameras? We’re looking after someone that’s actually good with cameras, we’d like to step up our game a bit and for that, we need a cameraman.”

”Oh, I must’ve introduced myself wrong,” Jace leans against the table, gaze flickering between the pair. ”Jace Lightwood: cameraman/technical wizard. There’s nothing I can’t do.”

Clary lights up like a Christmas tree, clasping her hands together as she gapes at Jace. It’s quite comical and cute at the same time. Simon, on the other hand, is not nearly as impressed as Clary. Arms crossed over his chest, he raises a bemused eyebrow at the blonde. ”Is that so? I have a hard time believing that you’re telling the truth here.”

The redhead comes to Jace’s rescue: from the yelp Simon does, she kicks him under the table and sends Jace another dazzling smile. ”Only one way to find out, right? Come with us on Saturday, we’re going to a town nearby to visit an old house. If we’re pleased with what you film for us, you’re in.”

”Sounds just fine to me.”

 

*~*

_One year later._

 

Jace sits by the desk in the apartment Clary and Simon share together. He scrolls through the different video files, chewing at his bottom lip mindlessly while he searches after the right one. Clary’s the one in charge over the music for the night, so Florence + The Machine’s quietly playing in the background: the redhead had told Jace once, after a drunken night out that ended up with Simon puking his guts out in a trash can by Times Square, that she would sell her soul to have Florence Welsh marry her. That’s how he found out that Clary liked girls: listening to her ramble about Florence Welsh’s magical body while he helped Simon wipe off vomit from his face.

Truly magical night for everyone involved. Jace still couldn’t understand how he was the only not completely shitfaced that night, since he drank the most. His friends were incredible lightweighters, there was no other explanation that fit logically.

The blonde hums along to the melody. It’s not his style, but he can appreciate good instrumental sections when he hears them. Besides, Clary would straight up murder him if he said something negative about her future wife.

Since Jace’s the only one of the trio that’s done for the semester with exams and projects alike, he gets to upload the videos to the channel until the others are done. Usually, he does the filming and helps Simon with the editing, while Clary does the research and fixes with the practical aspects of their work, but since he’s such a A+ friend, he took it upon himself to do the editing alone so Simon could get some revision done (that Simon had looked at him like he had offered him a million dollars and said, word for word ”Jace, you’re the sarcastic angel I don’t deserve” was not even worth mentioning, not like Jace was pretty pleased with this whole helping people thing or whatever).

He finds the right file: Simon and Clary did a Q&A the other day were they answered questions from their audience. It’s nothing compared to when he had to sit through eight hours of footage like the week before; when he watched long footage with Simon, it was fun since Simon had the best comments to literally everything, but watching the long things on his own? Not so much. Jace  _is_ funny _,_ but not even he could crack himself up for eight hours straight.

Clary and Simon’s voices fills his ears; it blocks out the real ones, whom both are sitting behind Jace in their respective armchairs while studying. He leans back; eyes focusing on the screen, looking after any sort of mistakes that disturbs the flow of the film. The duo have known each other since they were five: after all these years, they’re so in tune with one another and it shows on screen.

When they didn’t head out on proper hunts, they make videos where Clary and Simon discuss different rumours they’ve found online about paranormal hauntings. That, along with the occasional vlogs and Q&As, their audience grows bigger by the day. Much of their success comes from how well Clary and Simon work together on screen: they complete each other in a way that’s entertaining to watch.

Jace likes to think that his occasional, snarky remarks were appreciated by the audience too. The pair have asked Jace countless of times to join in, since he’s always present when they film and tend to comment on what they’re saying or doing, but the blonde have grown comfortable behind the camera: away from the ultimate spotlight. He pops up every now and then when they’re filming their investigations, so he’s not completely off screen all of the time.

Most of the questions Spooktacles get follow some repetitive patterns: talking about investigations, anything horror related and sometimes a couple of personal ones slips into the mix.

This Q&A is no different. He’s almost reached the middle of the video when they’re answering a question a fan asked if either of them are currently seeing someone. For awhile, Jace dreaded for the question to pop up: ever since the three of them met over  year ago, Jace had been interested in Simon. At first, he brushed it off as something physical, since he’d just got out of a long relationship and probably craved a rebound. But as months passed, his despair over the breakup with Maia faded and his attraction to Simon intensified.

The tough part about hearing if Simon was seeing someone, was that while Jace fell for the guy, Simon had a boyfriend. For the first ten months they knew each other, Simon was together with Raphael: a guy that worked as a waiter at the restaurant Simon worked extra at. Whenever Simon talked about Raphael, his eyes would lit up a certain way and it showed on the screen too: to sit there and listen to Simon go on about Raphael while Jace was filled to the brim with longing, was a whole different level of painful. He wanted to be happy for Simon: Simon was with someone that adored the ground he walked upon, but the few times Jace actually met Raphael in person, he gave him the cold shoulder. Not intentionally, it happened by itself and it was embarrassing just what level of petty he could reach for something that stupid.

Jace was not normally someone who got jealous. The few times he did, he was insufferable. Some of the worst fights he’d have with Simon was because of how Jace treated Raphael. It wasn’t like Jace meant to be mean to him, he really tried to give Raphael a chance: that they didn’t click was just how things were meant to be.

This was the first Q&A since Simon broke up with his boyfriend. Jace had contemplated not to read the question about Simon’s relationship at first, but the curiosity in him had prevailed. Jace thinks his own voice sounds a little weird as he read the question out oud; he grimaces over how Simon tenses for a second on the screen: it’s barely showing, Simon quickly hides it behind a smile that could be pulled off as real for someone that didn’t know him well enough. Jace cuts the whole thing out: he smoothens the bit between the previous question and the next the best he can. He doesn’t want people to see the discomfort Simon felt over the question, they’re here to see people search for ghosts and not college students with relationship troubles, after all. What was the fun in  _that_?

Through the audio of the video, he still hears how the real Clary and Simon keep discussing something quite heatedly. He doesn’t pay much attention to it at first, the pair have been best friends since they were kids after all and have the tendency to get into friendly disagreements all the time, but sometimes they tend to forget that there are other people in the world present: people like Jace, whom couldn’t be less interested in hearing them nag at each other 24/7. He feels inclined to interrupt when they block out the voices in the video.

”Hey, Thing 1 & 2, I’m trying to work here? Could you keep the yelling down for a bit?” he suggests dryly, turning around to find Simon pacing around the limited space between where Jace sat by the desk and the two armchairs. Thanks to the headphones, he only caught glimpses of their previous argument: something something about exams and deadlines. The ultimate joy.

Since Clary and Simon were weirdly in sync with one another, they turn their heads to look at him with the same type of glare at the same time. Jace doesn’t stop himself when he holds up his hands in defeat.

”You’re interrupting a very important argument!” Simon exclaims, waving his hands around to really show just how important this argument apparently is. ”While you’re trying to work, Clary’s feeding me  _lies_ here  _-”_

” _Lies?!_  Oh get over yourself Lewis, it clearly says here in  _your own_ notes that the answer is 1969 and not 1968, I can’t help that you have the memory of a goldfish,” Clary objects, clearly offended by Simon’s accusations.

Simon holds a hand over his heart: he looks just as offended as Clary, both of them stare at one another like they can’t believe the other to be real. It’s probably the most amusing thing Jace have seen all day, so he leans back against the chair and watches them with a smirk. ”I’m saying that you’re reading my handwriting wrong, I’ve been lectured about this for months, I  _know_ what I’m talking about.”

Clary flies up from her armchair, sending a bunch of papers to fall out of the notebook she’s holding in her hands all over the floor. From the broken look that spreads over Simon’s face, it’s easy to understand that the papers belong to him. ”Look at your own notes, Simon! Look here! What does that say to you, hm?  _1969!”_ She practically shoves the notebook in Simon’s face.

The other boy huffs, crossing his arms over his chest while he reads his own notes. The way his face falls when he notices that Clary’s right is absolutely spectacular. Jace’s tempted to take a photo of it and hang it framed in his apartment: all three of them are stubborn, so when someone’s caught to be wrong, it’s a glorious moment.

Simon’s not the worst loser of them (Jace probably wears that title himself) but he still gets put out when he’s wrong. It’s  _adorable_.

”If you would listen to me every once in awhile, it’d be great,” Clary mutters. A triumphant look had spread over her whole face by the time she sits down in her armchair again. ”Don’t look so smug, Jace, this is life or death.”

”Oh I know, I’m just sitting here thinking about how happy I am about being able to wake up whenever I want tomorrow, not having to worry about  _anything._ I’ll be thinking about you both when I sleep in,” Jace can’t keep the smirk off his lips. He probably deserves the tousled piece of paper Clary throws at his head: for having her back turned against him, she has a very good aim.

” _I’ll be thinking about you both_ blah blah, no need to rub it in, Jace, we know you’re done,” Simon rolls his eyes, falling back down against his own armchair with a huff. ”When this exam’s finished, we should head to the most haunted place in America and celebrate.”

”That’s the best thing you’ve said all night,” Jace agrees. He has one headphone in, listening to the video on the screen while listening to his friends with his other ear. ”Shall I look up flights directly or do you want to take us on a roadtrip in the Mystery Van?”

Simon doesn’t have time to answer, because at the same time as Simon gives another huff in the background, Jace’s phone goes off. It vibrates against the table loudly, and takes them all by surprise.

Jace flips it around, smiling when he notice that it’s Izzy. ”Yo Iz, what’s up?!” It’s a FaceTime call: the woman on the other end, with dark hair and the reddest lips in Los Angeles, smiles brightly at her brother. Her eyes are covered with a pair of big, flashy sunglasses.

”Hi Jace! Do you have a minute?” she sips at a glass of something that looks a lot like wine, and when she angles her phone, Magnus comes into view as well. Magnus waves towards him, also with a glass of wine in his hand. ”Hi, blondie!”

”Hi Magnus! Sure, I’ve got a minute to spare,” Jace says, pushing his own glasses further up on the bridge of his nose. He places his phone on the table: leaning it against the computer screen.

Izzy beams at him: even through the small screen of Jace’s phone, it shows how ecstatic she is about something. Same goes for Magnus, whom also sports a pair of massive sunglasses; his hair pulled back into a sleepy mohawk. ”Great! You know, we watched your last episode the other night - the one in the old school - and we were wondering: wouldn’t it be great if we could team up for a hunt? We could vlog about it on our channel as well, it’d be so much fun!”

”You know how much we love the show, don’t pass it up,” Magnus agrees. They look like movie stars with their sunglasses: not that it was very farfetched, thanks to their channel, Izzy and Magnus had made quite the name for themselves. With their advanced make up techniques and tutorials, they were popular in the online community. They deserved all of it: Jace had seen a every single one of their videos by now, and he was blown away every time.

”Wait, I’m gonna ask the masters, hang tight,” Jace says before he turns away from the phone to look at his friends. ”Hey, guys, Izzy wonders if she and Magnus can join in on one of our future hunts, would you two be up for that?”

Both Clary and Simon almost snaps their necks due to how fast they look in his direction: Clary’s eyes look like they might pop out of her skull, while Simon’s mouth hangs wide open. Neither of them say anything, which is way out of both of their characters: Jace flickers his gaze between the pair, before he sighs and throws his head back.

_”_ Can you both knockoff of the whole starstruckness for a minute? It’s my sister and my brother’s boyfriend? Don’t leave them hanging here.”

Simon’s the one whom regains the ability to speak first. If you could call stuttering out barely comprehensive words speaking, so to say. ”Izzy? As in Izzy Lightwood?  _Magnus Bane?_ As in ” _Lightwood’s Bane”?!_ Oh my god,  _oh my god,_ they’re huge!  _Huge!_ Of course we want them in our videos.  _Duh_.”

As if the very elegant ”duh” was Clary’s cue, the redhead begins to nod her head eagerly. It looked like she was about to drool all over herself for some reason and Jace had no idea as to why.

”How come you get all starstruck over Izzy when I’m a Lightwood too? What does she have that I don’t?” Jace asks, almost offended by their reactions.

”A charming personality,” Simon says at the same time as Clary blurts out a confident ”a hot body.” Jace quickly comes to the conclusion that he seriously needs some new friends, because the ones he has are absolute assholes.

”I hate you guys,” he deadpans before turning away to get back to the phone that’s still standing by the computer screen. He picks it up, Izzy and Magnus looking at him expectantly. ”Looks like you got yourself a deal, dudes. Send me your schedule and I’ll see what I can do.”

Izzy claps her hands together, her smile bright and infectious. ”That’s great! I’ll send it to you straight away. This is so exciting!”

”I’ve always wanted to meet a ghost,” Magnus ponders. He sips from his wine, and even though the glasses hides his eyes from Jace, he can practically sense the dreamy look hiding beneath the glass. ”We have to bring Alec too, he'll  _love_ it.”

Jace snorts. ”If Alec’s coming with you, he’s going to scare the ghosts with that mean stare of his. Truly, he’s more frightening than any ghost I’ve ever encountered: he would seriously scare them more than they would scare us.”

”You got that right,” Magnus agrees, smirking while Izzy nods in agreement too. ”It would be a wonderful experience though, seeing Alec scare some ghosts. I’d pay for that.”

Jace rolls his eyes. He tugs at the small bun he’s pulled his hair into, feeling a bit tired from spending the entire day in front of a screen. Clary and Simon are whispering to each other in the background: they’re trying to be discreet, but it’s hardly working. ”Think our joint viewers will love it too, almost as much as Alec himself.”

Izzy chuckles. ”He’ll be  _thrilled_  when we tell him about it. We got to go, but I’ll send the schedule as soon as possible. Talk to you soon!” She blows him a kiss before the connection cuts out. As soon as the call ends, Clary and Simon explodes.

It takes Jace completely off guard when they start jumping around and screaming at each other. He doesn’t know what to do, he simply looks at them with one eyebrow raised in pure laughter. Something about seeing Simon and Clary scream ”Izzy Lightwood! Magnus Bane!” over and over again is terribly cute: if he would’ve known that this was the reaction he would get, he would have asked Izzy and Magnus to join in before.

”Good thing you asked me to join now, isn’t it?” he smirks, clasping his hands together while he observes how Clary’s basically dancing around the room. She’s changed the song into one of Florence’s more upbeat ones to celebrate for  _real._

Simon, whom is just as excited as Clary, flashes Jace a grin that makes the blonde feel all fuzzy inside. He  _definitely_ should’ve asked Izzy and Magnus to guest on a hunt earlier if it meant that Simon would smile at him like that. ”Yeah, that was our plan all along: of course we knew that the mysterious, brooding dude that sneaked up on us in the library was Izzy Lightwood’s brother, we’ve used you all this time to make her and Magnus guest on our channel. Sorry that you had to find out like this.” His hand’s on Jace's shoulder, patting it lightly.

Jace pushes his hand away, faking to be deeply hurt by Simon’s remarks. ”You’ve played me for over a year, how can you live with yourselves?”

”Hunting ghosts is a serious job, you leave your heart behind to make it work: using any means necessary to reach stardom,” Simon states, trying his hardest to keep a straight face but it fails rather miserably. He coughs to hide the laugh that threatens to spill out of his mouth.

Jace rolls his eyes again: a little more power behind it this time. ”You two would be nothing without my added camera skills and software knowledge: I’ve built our reputation from scratch.”

Without giving even as much as a hint, Clary launches herself at Jace. The blonde, whom’s taken by surprise, just barely manage to catch her from falling down against the floor, face first. ”Easy Fray, I’m not a superhero.”

”Is Izzy single?” Clary blurts out, genuine curiosity infecting her voice.  _That_  explains why she looked like she was drooling earlier. Because she actually  _was._ Over Jace’s younger sister. He’s not sure what to make of it. ”Don’t look at me like that, I’m only  _human,”_ she adds when both Simon and Jace looks at her to find out if she’s serious about this or not. ”Seriously, have you seen Izzy? Like, lord have  _mercy_  on my soul.” She sinks back down against her armchair, dreamy look in her eyes.

Simon chooses that moment to call it a night. ”I’m going to bed, but we will talk more about this in the morning,” he says, pointing a very stern finger at Jace.

”Save yourself, Lewis, before Clary invites you to be her best man at her future wedding with my sister, ” Jace calls out, smiling to himself when he hears how Simon laughs. He’s too caught up with admiring Simon’s laugh to notice the notebook in Clary’s hands: before he knows it, she’s thrown it at his head and he yelps out a surprised sound.

Clary looks very pleased with herself, battering her eyelashes innocently at him when Jace grumbles and throws the notebook back. ”Don’t mock the future, Jace, we’ll be in-laws in no time.”

”I love how realistic your goals are,” Simon snickers. He’s cradling his pyjamas against his chest, smiling towards the redhead when he leans down to kiss her hair. If Clary wasn’t strictly into girls, Jace would’ve wondered if there wasn’t something between the pair: Simon and Clary have no idea about what personal space is, and they’re two of the most touchy people Jace knows. They’re practically attached at the hip most days. ”Of course I’m gonna be your best man, that’s been my right since we were ten.”

”There’s no Fray without Lewis.”

Jace glances to the side: he manage to catch a glimpse of the smile on Simon’s lips, and it’s enough to make him look all fondly at the other man. Sometimes he’s as subtle as a lovestruck teenager, thankfully for him, Simon hasn’t noticed it yet.

One who had noticed Jace’s growing affection for the brunette, sits in her armchair and looks at Jace smugly. She’s much more observant than people give her credit for: when it’s about Jace’s secrets and feelings though, he wished she could’ve been as blind as Simon was.

”You should tell him,” she states sweetly. As she does every time when she catches Jace in the act. It’s all part of a discussion they’ve had ever so often over the past two months.

”There’s still nothing to tell,” Jace replies with a sigh. He gets back to focus on the video, not really up for discussing this again. Clary knew where Jace stood about the matter: he had no intention to share his feelings with Simon, since the other guy weren’t exactly into him back. Jace couldn’t compete with Simon’s ex. ”Will you ever just drop it?”

”I’ll drop it when you tell him,” Clary packs her books and papers and heads into her bedroom. When she pokes her head out through the doorway a moment later, she’s dropped every hint of laughter and looks a bit worn out. ”He’ll surprise you, I just know it.”

Jace ignores her by putting both of his headphones back in. The sound of the video is not loud enough to block out when she shuts the door to her bedroom, but at least he doesn’t have to see her look at him like he’s making a mistake anymore. Clary means well, but sometimes she can be quite the pain to be around.

The blonde almost misses when Simon gets back into the room, offering Jace a small ”good night” as he heads into the small space behind the bookcase he uses as a bedroom. Jace replies with one just as quiet, ignoring the way his chest clenches at how soft Simon’s voice was. He looks back at the bookcase, which divides the room: one part’s the living room, the other’s Simon’s bedroom. The apartment is tiny: it’s barely enough for two people to be able to live here comfortably, but Simon and Clary have made it work. While Clary uses the other room as both a art studio and bedroom, Simon sleeps in the living room. Thanks to a couple of curtains and the bookcase, it almost makes the limited space get some kind of privacy.

Jace uploads the video before he decides to head home. The apartment is eerily quiet when he shuts off the computer: without the video blasting in his ears, he can make out the quivering sound of Simon’s breathing from where the guy’s sleeping behind the bookcase. He tips on his toes out to the hallway: his boots are thrown next to Simon’s battered Converse and Clary’s red Vans, his leather jacket standing out like a sore thumb between Clary’s coloured windbreakers.

Quietly he slips his outwear on. He throws one last glance back at the living room, almost hoping that Simon would wake up so Jace could fall asleep at home with a fresh image of Simon on replay in his head. Knowing that he asks too much of the world, Jace takes the extra key his friends keeps on the dresser and sends the  _Dracula_ poster a tormented look instead.

The black and white portrait takes no notice of him: it just hangs there, the small ”fuck off” sticker Jace put up by Dracula’s head once when he was drunk and thought it was the funniest thing ever, is probably the closest thing to a response Jace will ever get from the large poster.

Sighing, he holds onto the keys a bit tighter and heads out.

*~*

 

A week later, the trio’s out filming for a video in Rolling Hills Asylum: one of the most haunted places in the state. All of them were finally finished with their exams, so what better way to celebrate it than to head out for a proper hunt? According to the website, it’s the number #1 haunted asylum. In the country or the world? No one may never know.

The place is  _huge._ As preparation, Clary and Simon forced Jace to watch the episode when the  _Ghost Adventures_ team went to do a similar search: Jace thought it was big on screen, but seeing it in real life? Certainly added some perspective.

Jace stands there, staring up at the building with the camera in hand for a good five minutes before he cracks out a comedic, sensible ”Simon, what’s scarier? This building, full of demons or Clary before she gets her coffee in the morning?”

Surprisingly, the joke doesn't go well with everyone in the group. Simon laughs, so that was a win in Jace’s book. Clary, on the other hand, gives him a glare that could put anyone to shame: the cup of coffee she’s holding, that’s just too good to be true.

”Still love you, Fray,” Jace offers with a smirk. What he gains in response is one particularly disappointed eyebrow from the redhead. ”You’re just not someone I’d like to mess with before you get that dose of caffeine your cherish so much in your system.”

”Not to be  _that_  guy, but I’d rather dance a tango with some of the fellas in there than to face the fury of Clary’s sour morning mood,” Simon declares; he’s unloading some of their equipment from the van, otherwise Jace would’ve given him a high-five.

”You’re both awful and I hate you,” Clary takes a big swig of her coffee, deliberately avoiding both of the amused grins the guys sends her way. ”Aren’t you supposed to be filming?”

” _Aren’t you supposed to be filming?_ I’m filming right now, have been for the last few minutes, so guess who caught you getting roasted on camera,” Jace points to himself, turning the camera to catch his expression and pose on film as well. ” _This_  guy.”

”I don’t know who I’ll have to bribe, but none of that’s going into the video,” Clary finishes her coffee and helps Simon with the equipment. She makes it so easy for Jace to be the butt of his jokes, but when it comes down to it? During the hunts, she’s the calmest one out of all of them: where Jace pretends to be tough and drop sarcastic remarks, Clary’s the one heading straight for the scarier parts while Simon always looks like he’s a second away from fainting.

She grills them merciless for that, so making fun of one another truly comes full circle in the end.

”As you all heard, Clary’s using foul methods to get her away around here,” Jace’s talking straight to the camera: it always feels a bit weird to talk to the camera as it would be a group of people, that’s why he’s so impressed with how well Simon and Clary handles it. ”Bribery, threats, I’m not sure why we still keep her around.”

”Because you and Simon would practically shit yourselves without me in there,” Clary states like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. Worst thing about it is that she’s right.

”I can’t argue with solid facts,” Simon’s a traitor, Jace promises himself to remember to write ”Lewis the Traitor” in the end credits of the next video. They were supposed to be a united front, not bend for the redhead’s every will.

”You’re a disgrace to ghost hunters everywhere, Lewis.”

”Good thing I’m a paranormal  _investigator_ , then.”

The look on Simon’s face - the sheer glee - makes Jace want to punch him. What he does is a more non-violent approach: he flips Simon the finger and shakes his head slightly from side to side.

Simon does some ridiculous finger-guns in return; if Jave was offended from the happiness, it’s nothing compared to how offended he feels over that gesture.

Simon’s too much for him, and the brunette’s well aware of that fact.

”Earth to Simon and Jace, we got a job to do, remember?”

 

The trio met up with people that has connections to the building in some way. All of them are enthusiastic about sharing their experiences, compared to how closed off others tend to be. Some experiences can be tough to talk about: stumbling upon astral beings wasn’t just fascinating, it could give some serious creeps as well. People had heard loud screams of a woman; some had been groped inappropriately, chilling experiences all in general.

Jace felt uneasy about this whole thing. Going on these investigations was weird emotionally: it was frightening, but at the same time the rush was incredible. He wasn’t a big fan of the whole ordeal with the satanic rituals, because  _that_ was scary.

Simon and Clary are both radiating with energy when they followed one of the guides around the property. They asked questions about the asylum: how old it was, what it was used for and so on so they could film an intro later on where they would tell the backstory of the building.

Jace filmed the whole tour, getting some pretty good shots of how demolished and creepy everything was on the inside. Especially the bedrooms were the children used to sleep back in the day: seeing the toys all lined up with some ratty beds, was a unsettling matter.

During the whole tour, they get signs that they’re not alone. Some rooms gives a heavy feeling, along with goosebumps and shivers: the organ room, the Christmas room and the head nurse’s old quarters were just some of the lovely places that caused a heavy feeling in Jace’s chest. Simon gets some spikes on the EMF meter, and they also think they caught some kind of voice at the EVP recorder.

It was barely audible through the static, but it was enough to send another wave of cold shivers down their backs. ” _I’m… here.”_  The guide, Jane, was sure that it could be one of the ghosts that were known to roam around in the halls: Raymond, a man whom used to grope women and be a real creep, Roy, the man who suffered from giantism who roamed around in the corridor (when the guide showed them captured pictures of something that could be Roy, Simon looked like he would faint again) and also the old nurse, whom had a reputation of dabbing in the satanic arts: performing rituals in one of the rooms in the building.

They had been to a bunch of places during the last year: for some reason, Jace was sure that this would be the worst one yet.

”We should’ve brought Izzy & co here,” Jace places the camera down on the stand: they’ve left marks at some places around the building, that would help with the night’s investigation. Jace’s just one man and can’t be at more than one place at the time, so the extra cameras help out. Sometimes they split up: it’s usually Clary whom wanders off on her own, while Jace and Simon investigate together. They’re both too scared to check things out on their own; Simon admits it proudly while Jace acts tougher than he is.

Clary chuckles. ”Yeah, let’s give them a heart attack first first thing we do. I’d like to make a good impression, thanks.”

”They deserve the very worst, Alec won’t get scared otherwise,” Jace says, fixing the last bit with the stand. There’s a dim ray of light coming in through the window: it’s getting darker by the second, causing the asylum to feel even more eery than before. ”That’s worth more than you getting a good first meeting with my sister.”

”You’re not invited to my future wedding,” Clary heads into a nearby room, her voice bouncing against the walls. Through the doorway, Jace sees how she examines the room, snapping photos of it: one of the rooms for the children. ”I think I’m gonna go here by myself tonight, once we’ve done the walkthrough of the place together, I mean.”

”Good luck with that,” Jace’s not jealous in the slightest. He doesn’t know why, but the ghosts of children are always the things that scares him the most. ”I’ll let Simon decide where we’ll go. Hopefully he has more brains about it than you.”

”Ha ha, I just, it feels like there’s something here in this corridor; in these rooms, I’d like to see if I can draw it out,” Clary pops her head out through the doorway, her fiery hair pulled back into a ponytail. ”You know, making some new, cool friends and all that jazz.”

”I won’t interrupt your bonding time,” Jace starts the camera, gathering the rest of the equipment so they could go and catch up with Simon again. The brunette is in a different part of the building with his own camera, setting it up for them to use later. ”Are you done? We should go and catch up with Lewis before he gets spooked and leaves.”

”Yeah, ah, I’m so excited to get back here later,” Clary trails behind him, buzzing with energy. ”Who will break first, you or Simon?”

”Lewis, always Lewis.”

 

*~*

 

Much as Jace foretold, Clary ends up heading off on her own once they’ve swept through the building together: The rooms she said she wanted to explore to Jace earlier was her goal for the night.

All of them are a bit on edge to say the least. Simon in particular, because when Clary trails off into the awaiting darkness, only using her night vision camera as a guide, he lets out a shaky ”you’ll be missed.”

”Clary’s not going to die,” Jace states; he’s not able to sound very convincing, and that’s the most ridiculous thing of all. ”If you’re gonna pray for anyone’s survival, it’s ours.”

Simon lets out another shaky sound, this one with hints of being a supposed snicker. ”Touché. So, where would you like to go first? That old nurse’s office sounds like a charm, or why not the room where the satanic rituals? Both are truly strong, lovely options.”

”The room with the rituals, maybe I’ll finally get some inspiration for my satanic, death metal band,” Jace agrees, heading off towards in the direction of where the room with the rituals where. Since he both has the camera and the infra light, he’s the one of them that could actually see quite well.

Simon and Clary have all other equipment: the spirit box, EVP and EMF devices, heat sensors and two cameras that can take photos with settings that made it possible for them to catch photos in the dark. All of these things made it possible for the group to catch different sort of anomalies in the air that can’t be seen with the eye itself.

For being two college students with some minor extra jobs on the side, they’ve spent loads of their savings on getting good, reliable equipment.

”Oh,  _that_ satanic death metal band I’ve never head of?” Simon has to jog at first to keep up with the blonde’s long strides. There’s not much difference when it comes to their heights, the thing was that Simon nearly didn’t walk as fast as he talked. ”What’s the band called again?”

”I don’t have to tell you every tiny detail of my life, Lewis.  _Death Goats_ is my private project for now,” Jace shots back. Joking around certainly helps to keep the unnerving feeling in his chest under control.

Simon’s not in front of the camera when he laughs; Jace could still practically sense the smile on the brunette’s lips. ” _Death Goats_? Seriously, was that name the best thing you could come up with? That’s, eh, that’s the worst name for a band I’ve ever heard.”

”Your band’s called  _Rock Solid Panda,_ Si, it’s not entirely different,” Jace turns to flash the bright light in Simon’s direction: Simon holds his hand over his eyes to block out some of the sudden brightness. ”My name just features a bit more death and goats.”

”Could you not like, look at me directly with that thing? You’re making me -”

A sudden thud comes from one of the nearby rooms: Jace looks back at Simon with wide, startled eyes. He finds Simon standing with his hands on his cheeks, much alike the expression the figure in  _The Scream_ painting has, but lacking the actual screaming part.

”Turn on the spirit box,” Jace’s barely moving his lips as he urges on his friend. He dims the light a bit, so it doesn’t disturb the spirits: if there’s actually any present at all. ”Talk to them.”

Simon gets the box out of his bag and holds it out in front of him. He has one hand against the wall, the corridor’s close to pitch black and it’s not exactly making anything easier that the guy doesn’t have his nigh vision camera at the ready either; nothing to hide behind, like Jace has. ”Hello there ghosties. It’s your boys here, Simon and Jace. We’re sorry for intruding like this, we’re only passing through, checking out your crib and such. If anyone wanna chat, just leave a message after the beep.”

”Leave a message after the beep? It’s not like they fucking now what voicemail is,” Jace whispers, gaining a pointy look from Simon. ”Raymond, is that you? Or Roy, you out and about, man?” he adds, a bit louder and with more stability.

He follows Simon into the room where the supposed thud came from. With the camera in hand, he sweeps it around the space: trying to catch everything on film.

Except for a ratty bed in the corner, that misses both bedding and sheets, there's no other piece of furniture that remains. Bits and pieces of paint are missing on he wall, along with words being scribbled here and there. Nothing particularly threatening, but even something as ridiculous as ”blaze it” could send shivers down your spine in the right setting.

There’s nothing in there that could explain the thud.

”If there’s anyone here, please, make a sound. We’re not here to cause any shit,” Simon’s voice is barely audible over the booming sounds from the spirit box. It’s a aggravating sound to listen to, but it serves a purpose so Jace can put up with it. The brunette holds the box in front of him with quivering fingers: the fear is bright and living in his eyes when he peers back at Jace over his shoulder, even possible to spot in the dimness of the room.

”Raymond, did you make the sound just now?” Simon repeats Jace’s question from earlier.

At first, there’s nothing except for the ever pressing booms of the spirit box.

_”Get..out.”_

In unison both Simon and Jace jerk backwards with matching screams dripping from their lips. Jace almost drops the camera: thanks to spending years and years in the gym and taking various martial arts lessons with his siblings had given him great reflexes.

”Did you hear that?!” Simon’s panting slightly, whole body trembling now and not just the hands when he turns to look at Jace. ” _Fuck.”_

Jace’s heart is racing in his chest: pounding against the ribcage. ”That had to be something, I swear: someone said ”get out.” I don’t know about you, but I’d like to get the fuck out of here.”

”Why do you want us to leave, spirit? Is this Roy or someone else?” Simon presses on, dismissing Jace’s shocked glares with a wave of his hand. ”Speak to us.”

In the room the temperature drops several degrees in a matter of minutes. Jace hugs his jacket a bit closer around his body, eyes glued through the camera at the box in Simon’s hand. This was common: in the past, sudden changes in temperature came with the presence of paranormal beings.

The box booms out it’s unmistakable sound: the tension it creates is unreal, Jace could practically touch it.

When Jace’s phone rings, the tune of the modern classic  _Sexy And I Know_ blasting through the room, both of them start screaming again: Jace flies back out through the door in one vivid jerk, while Simon jumps almost high enough to smack his head against the ceiling.

”For  _fuck’s_  sake Lightwood, what’s the first rule of ghost hunting?! You turn off the sound on your phone! Dear  _god._ ”

Simon’s outburst helps with the frantic beating of Jace’s own heart. He even manage to laugh, getting back inside so he can hand the camera to Simon while he answers the call. ”I’m sorry, I was expecting a call from Izzy, I’m just gonna take it - keep talking with our new friends here.”

The scold Simon sends his way makes Jace’s neck tingle, causing him to smile as he answers the phone.

”Hi, Iz! You’re not calling at a good time, almost gave me and Lewis a heart attack.”

_”Oh god, are you guys out on a hunt? Now? I’m sorry - ”_

”It’s fine, forgot to turn my sound off so  _Sexy And I Know It_ turned very sinister for a second there,” Jace snickers, trying to ignore just how dark it is in the corridor around him. The sound of the spirit box is loud enough to be audible from out here, same goes for the ”tell her that you’re a disgrace to all ghost hunters, Lightwood,” Simon calls out: Jace’s smile grows even wider.

_”Nice to hear that you still have that ridiculous ringtone of yours, J. Sorry to interrupt the hunt, but I called to say that the date you suggested fits. We’re booking tickets to New York as we speak, so we’ll see you in a couple of weeks!”_

The smile turns into something bright and ecstatic. His siblings would finally come and see him: here, in New York! That was the best thing he had heard all day. ”Fuck yes, Iz, that’s great! We’re so happy to have you, will Alec come as well?”

_”Of course he is, he’s been chatting non-stop about how he wants to fight some ghosts ever since we pitched the idea last week. I can’t wait, even when I’ll piss myself if we come across a spirit or something.”_

”That’s the common reaction for anyone that’s not Clary: she’s immune to getting scared, quite disheartening for the rest of us. Can you call me about this tomorrow? I need to get back to the investigation, otherwise Simon will flip,” Jace closes his eyes to shut the dark out: it’s easier to pretend that he’s not in the middle of a goddamn haunted building with his eyes closed. Now he could be standing in his dark apartment for all he knew, not at this old asylum.

_”Sure thing, good luck with the hunt! Me and Mags will be watching it the minute it comes out.”_

”You two are our biggest fans, really. Talk to you tomorrow, Iz.”

_”Got your back, J. Talk to you tomorrow.”_

 

*~*

 

Two weeks and what feels like endless calls later, Izzy, Alec and Magnus comes to New York. The trio picks their guests up at the airport; the whole ride over, Simon kept sharing weird facts with Jace and Clary; apparently, there’s a snake which venom can make blood come out of every opening of a human’s body. Information neither of them needed to know, but Simon still explained it vividly while going through a crowded intersection at the same time.

Hanging with Simon certainly never gets boring, that’s one thing for sure.

Izzy practically threw herself at them in the waiting hall: she radiated happiness in a way that no one should after a long flight, and her smile almost gave Clary a seizure. Before Magnus and Alec reached them, Simon had whispered to Jace about how intimidating ”the long, brooding” guy looked without knowing that it was Alec: Jace almost choked on his own laugh when he coughed out that it was his brother.

They’re now sitting in Simon’s van, on their way back to the apartment. The traffic is ruthless, as expected, the van barely moves more than an inch every other minute: for once, no one’s angry about the traffic since the delay gives them more time to get to know one another.

Izzy has finally put her camera down; the whole first half of the ride she filmed everything for an upcoming vlog to  _Lightwood’s Bane._ Simon and Clary where used to have a camera shoved in their faces all of the time, so they went with it and talked like there was no tomorrow: Jace and Alec, whom both were used to be behind the camera or not in the picture at all, dropped occasional comments.

Jace always feels a little weird in front of the camera, if it’s not briefly during a hunt. He never knows how to act naturally: even though he wouldn’t admit it, he’s impressed by how his friends can behave so well with a camera present almost 24/7.

”So, how you long have you guys been doing this whole ghost thing?” Magnus asks: he’s propped his chin on his hand and lets his gaze flicker between Clary and Simon’s seat.

”Well, it started when I was a kid; me and my parents went to visit my mom’s aunt. She lives kind of remote in this big, old house: perfect for spirits to reside,” Clary has told Jace about this story before, but it was always interesting to hear her talk about her paranormal experiences: she gets excited in a way she hardly acts about anything else to the same extent. ”I saw things move on their own; felt a constant presence by my side. I told Simon about it when I got back home, and it took off from there. We’ve been out and about all over the state through the years -”

”Once, we met Zak from  _Ghost Adventures_ when we went to his museum in Las Vegas with Clary’s parents, and it was  _epic,_ ” Simon beams: only Alec looks confused over the mention of the tv persona, Izzy and Magnus share an impressed look with one another, while Jace and Clary looks at the brunette fondly: Jace a bit more discreet than the redhead. ”He’s such a solid guy, man, I don’t often get starstruck but he was - just,  _blown_ away.”

Jace raises one judging eyebrow toward Simon, because  _really?_ Simon never getting starstruck? That was a lie if Jace had ever heard one: just before, when the trio waited for the plane from Los Angeles to touch down, Simon had declared that he would probably faint at the sight of the vloggers.  _Faint._

Simon shoves at his arm without taking his eyes off the road. It’s second nature for him at this point: Jace can only smirk and shove back in response. ”Don’t even start, Lightwood: I see everything you do.”

”Seriously, you’ve met Zak? That’s so cool!” Izzy looks between Clary and Simon, smiling widely. ”I watch  _Ghost Adventures_ all the time, it’s so good.”

”Yeah, he gave us tips on where to get good equipment and such, super nice guy,” Clary recalls. ”We got inspired by their show, so we decided to take our homemade videos and put them online: it spiralled from there, we love what we’re doing and wished we could do this more, but life gets in the way.”

Magnus holds his hands in front of his face, almost like he’s about to burst into a prayer. ”Please, tell me that you have some of those old videos left? For some reason, I just see you two being incredibly cute pre-teens running around New York with an old video camera, like, how far from the truth am I?”

”Oh we have  _plenty_ of videos. You’re actually not far from the truth at all: we were like, 12-13 when we started filming? Unfortunately they’re all on tapes and our old VHS player broke so, no throwbacks,” Simon snickers. ”They’re not too different than what we do now: Clary was the leader, while I filmed her and came with spot on commentary. What’s different is that Jace works with the camera now and I get to stumble around with Clary in  _front_ of it, while dropping golden comments.”

”That’s why they’re good now and actually have a audience,” Jace pipes in. The smile he offers the others is as innocent as he can make it: surprisingly, no one believes him. ”What can I say? My superb skills with the camera and 0.2 secs of screen time keeps the people coming.”

”We actually had an audience before Jace came into the picture,” Clary defends, trying to lean in to pinch Jace’s arm, but he pulls it away so she can’t reach him. ”He just jumped on our train to success at the right time.”

”You’re one slippery eel, blondie,” Magnus laughs, flashing a amused smile towards Jace, whom merely rolls his eyes in reply. ”Iz, we have to keep that in mind; Alec may try something similar.”

”Mags, you know what? I’m just happy to be here,” Alec calls out, and it causes them all to burst out laughing. ”Hunting some ghosts, seeing some cool stuff; sounds like a proper weekend of fun to me.”

”That’s the spirit, Alec. Always the voice of optimism,” Jace leans forward to point a threatening, flickering finger at both Izzy and Magnus. ”I want to see the same optimism from you too: follow Alec’s example.”

”Aye aye Captain,” Magnus does a small salute while grinning. ”There’s just one thing I need to say.”

”Shoot.”

” _Who you gonna call?”_

 

_*~*_

 

For once, Clary and Simon have tried to clean the apartment beforehand. All of them tumble inside in a mess of bodies and luggage: some of the bags remains down in Simon’s van, they brought only Izzy’s things up with them since both Magnus and Alec are sleeping at Jace’s apartment.

It’s tough to fit three people into a apartment with just two rooms: squeezing Izzy, Alec and Magnus into the mix is enough to feel like knowing parkour is necessary to get around the narrow space. Izzy was fine with staying at Clary's and Simon's apartment when she discussed it with Jace on the phone a week ago; now, when she’s walking around the packed space and looking at everything with wide eyes, it’s clear she’s made the right call.

If there’s something the apartment doesn’t lack, it’s things. There’s plants and trinkets everywhere: the plants at least make the apartment smell nice. The shelves in the living room are filled to the brim with things: oddly, what it lacks the most are actual books. Plenty of figures from different comics, films and series that Clary and Simon like take up most of the space, along with the flatscreen they cramped into the middle of it all. Their ever growing collection of movies also takes up a lot of space, along with the tiny plants Clary have placed to keep everything separated into different sections.

Alec’s the only one truly affected by how narrow and crowded every room is: he’s more busy with trying to get around without tripping over anything, while Izzy and Magnus goes around making impressed noises over Simon and Clary’s decorating style.

Jace brought Izzy’s bag to Clary’s room and is now observing the chaos from his position in the doorway: Clary’s running around gathering chairs from the kitchen so their guests have somewhere to sit, while Simon stands awkwardly by the bookcase; Simon’s doing this thing where he leans against the shelf for a second before he straightens up for a couple more seconds, before repeating the whole process again.

”So, now when the chairs are in place, who’s up to help me make some dinner?” Clary exclaims once she’s gathered enough chairs: somehow, she’s managed to squeeze them in between the armchairs. It’s impressive to say the least, and it shows because she’s grinning from ear to ear with pride. ”Don’t even think about it Si, Mac N’ Cheese ain’t legitimate cooking.”

”Hey, don’t come into my house and disrespect my cooking, Fray,” Simon holds a hand over his heart, eyes wide with faked hurt.

” _Our_ house needs proper food -”

”Alec and I can help: we’re an unbeatable team in the kitchen,” Magnus saves them all from hearing Clary slaughter Simon’s cooking. For Jace, whom had heard the exact discussion what felt like a thousand times, Magnus is a blessing.

The couple follows Clary into the kitchen, leaving Jace alone with Izzy and Simon.

”What are these tapes? Are they the homemade videos you and Clary made when you were kids?”Izzy’s standing by the desk, looking up at the shelves stacked with tapes above it.

”Nah, that’s just Simon’s private remakes of ” _One Night in Pari_ s,” Jace says without missing a beat. He moves to sit down in Clary’s armchair, smirking to himself when Simon realises just what Jace actually said.

” _Jace,”_ Simon stutters out. He’s closer to where Jace’s sitting than the blonde first realises, because all of a sudden Simon’s right beside him and he smacks Jace’s arm hard enough to make a loud noise: it  _hurts,_ but Jace’s too stunned that he bursts out laughing instead of fighting back.

Simon looks like he wants to fling himself into space. It’s  _priceless._

There’s confusion in Izzy’s features, her eyebrows drawn together; then, it clicks and she smacks a hand over her face. Another wonderful reaction, Jace’s  _living._ ”Jesus christ, Jace, really?”

”Have I told you how much I hate you lately? Because it’s a lot,” there’s even heat in the glare Simon sends his Jace’s way, but a hint of pride hides in those brown eyes as well. Of course Simon has to be proud over him: he’s taught Jace all about using the moment for his advantage, much like Simon himself did. ”Just, let’s ignore him from now on.”

”It’s impossible to ignore me, I’m both a delight to be around  _and_ to look at,” Jace flickers his hair back. When he don’t have it pulled back into a tiny bun, his fringe falls all over. It’s getting a bit too long, but he can’t be bothered to cut it.

He ignores the way his heart leaps up in his throat when Simon pushes the blonde strands away for him. The touch is brief, fingers barely ghosting over Jace’s cheek: it’s so subtle, Simon blushes a soft shade of pink but he says nothing.

”You’re cute, brother, but don’t give yourself too much credit,” Izzy’s voice causes Simon to jolt away from Jace, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans: thankfully, the younger Lightwood is going through the tapes, murmuring titles to herself. ”These really are the infamous childhood tapes though, aren’t they?”

”Y-yeah,” Simon clears his throat. He isn’t looking at Jace, instead he heads to stand next to Izzy. ”We had way too much time, I’m sure all of these videos are longer than the  _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy combined. Even the  _extended_  editions.”

”I’m so sad that the player’s broke, I’d love to see some of your old stuff,” Izzy pouts. ”I guess I’ll have to settle with the real deal instead.”

While Simon goes into more detail about the videos with a very impressed Izzy as a listener, Jace zons out. He turns the chair so he can quietly observe the others, thinking about how Simon’s hand had lingered against his cheek. Could that possibly mean something, or was Jace just seeing things that weren’t there?

It reminds him of how he’d been with Maia before they got together. He read so much into her signals that he second-guessed everything, until the day she finally asked if she could kiss him and it blew Jace’s mind in more ways than one. He hadn’t seen it coming, despite the constant flirting between them: Jace thinks he’s good at reading people, but as it turns out, he’s absolutely worthless at it.

Simon’s touch is different from Maia’s. All Jace’s sure of, is that Simon touching him makes him feel the same way Maia did. It’s a dizzy, overwhelming feeling.

Izzy leaves once Simon’s explanation is done to check on what the others are doing in the kitchen:loud, happy voices comes through the doorway, it makes it very obvious that Jace and Simon are the only ones left in the living room.

”They seem really nice, like, for some reason I didn’t picture them to be like this at all?”

Jace snaps back to the present, casting a amused grin in the direction of the other. He snorts out a answer. ”Why so? You’ve seen their videos, haven’t you? They’re not exactly showing off a mean side in those.”

Simon sits down in his armchair, kicking up his legs on the small coffee table. He puffs at Jace’s foot with one of his own. ”You’re a proper prick, thought they’d be the same since you’re related to 2/3 of our guests.”

The eye roll Jace makes is almost as impressive as the ones Clary usually does. ”I’m one of a kind, there’s no one like me. I’m a true presence to be around.”

”Not sure if you’re such a presence, but I can agree that you’re definitely one of a kind. Do you think any of them will get scared when we head to Letchworth Village?”

Jace scoffs, yet smiles over Simon’s question. ”The only one I care about getting scared is Alec. If he gets scared,  _god,_ it’d be the funniest thing ever.”

Chuckling, Simon sinks deeper down against the cushions of his chair. ”Dude, that’d be  _sick._ He looks like one of those guys that never gets scared: like, there’s nothing that even makes him batter an eyelid.”

He softens while staring at the TV in front of them: it’s shut off, their reflections somewhat showing against the dark screen. ”Raphael always wanted to come with me and Clary on our investigations; I never let him do it.”

That.. that’s new.

Jace had no idea about that. Sure, it made sense that Raphael would’ve wanted to tag along on the investigations because who wouldn’t, but Simon not letting his old boyfriend tag along? That was surprising.

He frowns. ”Why didn’t you let him come with?”

Simon shrugs, threading a hand through his curly, dark hair. ”I don’t know. It just didn’t feel right, I guess? The ghost hunting had been my and Clary’s thing, I didn’t want him to be a part of it. I felt like he wouldn’t understand, like? Does that sound as stupid to you as it sounds to me?”

”No, I see where you’re coming from,” Jace puffs back at Simon’s foot, offering a slight smile. ”You didn’t let your boyfriend join, but a complete stranger like me, that was just fine?”

”Honestly? I was very against it at first. After that first meeting we had at the library, I told Clary to call it off because we had no idea about who you were, but you know how she is. She said we should give you a chance, and here we are.” The best thing about Simon is that he’s always so sincere: it shows when he’s talking about things that comes from the heart, because he twists his words a certain way.

Hearing this didn't make Jace feel any less than content inside. He knew how against him Simon was in the beginning: that they had built a friendship despite the rocky start, was astonishing. ”You know that I’m still happy that I chose to head out with you. Otherwise I probably still would be lying on the bed in my apartment and watch  _Marley & Me _three times a day and mourn a relationship that couldn’t be saved; worked out quite well for the both of us, Si, I’ll have to admit that.”

Jace knows he looks at Simon fondly when their eyes meet: he can see something in the other’s eyes that makes his chest tingle in the best way possible. As on a impulse, Simon leans the tiniest bit forward and the whole atmosphere in the room shifts.

It makes Jace think of the temperature drop whenever they come across something paranormal. Instead of cold, dreading shivers, Jace finds himself heating up with a heart that’s beating like a frightened bird in a cage. He wonders if this is how they’ll kiss.

”Dinner’s ready!”

Izzy seemingly manifests out of thin air, her voice almost as bright as her smile. Her presence causes the atmosphere to change yet again: whatever moment that had started to take place between Jace and Simon, it was now lost.

Simon gets up first, shooting Jace a look that sends a million mixed signals all at once before he heads out to the kitchen.

Jace’s not sure what to feel: all he knows is that if Simon had leaned forward more, Jace would’ve met him halfway.

 

*~*

 

”So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?” Alec asks halfway through dinner. He’s squeezed in between Magnus and Simon’s armchair: due to how tiny the whole apartment actually is, it feels like the six of them are literally sitting on top of each other.

”We’ll try to leave around 9 in the morning,” Clary begins, twisting her spaghetti like a professional at the same time. ”It’s not that far away from New York, just under 2 hours give or take, all depends on the traffic to be fair. When we get there, we’ll check out the area and talk with some of the caretakers. I’ve also set up some minor interviewers with people that have connections to the place in some way: that’s the standard procedure, always nice to know what you’re heading into, really.”

”That sounds so exciting,” Izzy looks like she’s losing herself in her daydreams, propping her chin with her hand. ”Makes it sound so real to hear you talk about interviewing and such, do you always get to talk to people beforehand?”

”For most of the time there’s always someone that wants to tell us something, the tricky part is to find them,” Clary continues. Under Izzy’s beaming gaze, she’s sat up a bit more straight and looks like the definition of pride. ”Some are more talkative than others.”

Izzy and Magnus both look impressed by Clary’s explanation, while the oldest Lightwood sports an expression of pure skepticism. It would be Jace’s absolute pleasure to wipe that look of Alec’s face in the morning.

”Seeing all of the equipment first hand, that’s the coolest thing for me,” Magnus adds. ”It’s such a contrast to what I usually deal with, can I get to walk around with the thing that makes that horrible sound? The box thing?”

Simon snickers, pointing to Magnus with his fork. ”The spirit box? Sure, that shouldn’t be a problem. Be ready to hear some fucked shit through it though, it’s not something to take lightly.”

”Amazing, I need to get one of those demonic boomboxes for myself, they seem to be useful but extremely annoying at the same time,” Magnus ponders, placing his plate on the rattling coffee table. ”Is your van really the unanimated version of the Mystery Van in  _Scooby Do_?”

 

*~*

Simon drives them to Jace’s apartment later that night when it’s time to hit the hay. Jace, along with Magnus and Alec, stumble up to the right floor and into Jace’s tiny apartment in a laughing mess of limbs.

Where Simon and Clary’s apartment were packed to the brim with different things, Jace’s apartment was the complete opposite. No bright colours, hardly any personal objects at all to be fair. The walls are white, slick and modern. He rents the place from one of Robert’s friends: it’s not ideal, but it’s a good deal and Jace have now grown to like it here so he can’t complain.

When Maia moved out, the apartment felt too big for just him. Except for the kitchen and bathroom, it was just one, big room more or less. With two people sharing such a limited space, it had felt narrow and intimate: after Maia, he had felt weird not to share his space with someone else for most of the day. He talked to her on Skype and texted her all the time, still, it wasn’t the same thing as having her at an arm’s length for months at a time.

That his friends lacked the knowledge of what personal space meant could sometimes be a good thing. But only sometimes.

Simon commented on his lack of personal belongings the first time Clary and him came over. Then, Jace hadn’t understood why Simon’s comment had made him feel like it did: Jace had taped some photos of him and Maia, and some with his family back in LA, to his wall once his friends had left. They sit neatly next to the huge poster he has of the film  _Gladiator._

That’s as personal as he can get, to be fair. Now, he also have some photos of him, Simon and Clary too, so it’s an ongoing quest to make this place into a proper home.

”I don’t understand how those two can live together with all of those things lying around all over the place,” Alec comments, making himself at home at the bed. He’s a lot like Jace in that way: they both like having a nice, clean space. Thanks to Jace’s new friends, he’s beginning to falter a bit in that department. ”Everywhere I looked, there’s was some new, weird thing to look at. It was both fascinating and too much at the same time.”

”That’s because you prefer the Scandinavian and American suburb way of designing and decorating, Alec,” Magnus chuckles. While Alec’s sprawled out in all his tall, scrawny glory, Magnus’ curled up against his boyfriend’s side, head resting firmly on Alec’s chest. ”There’s no fun nor colours in that.”

Jace tries to ignore the longing in his chest whenever he glances up at them from where he’s sitting on the floor: since he doesn’t own a proper couch, he’ll have to sleep on a separate mattress on the floor. The couple had first argued against it (”it’s  _your_ bed, Jace”) but now they look content with Jace’s offer.

”Simon and Clary live in a thrift store and it’s both the worst and best thing ever,” Jace smirks, putting sheets on his mattress. ”I kind of love it.”

”It has it’s certain charm, but it’s not built for someone with my height,” Alec states. ”I can put up with your style, Mags, you like things but like, in a cleaner sort of way.”

”You’re only saying that because I’m your boyfriend, Lightwood,” Magnus laughs brightly. It’s a soothing sound, Jace can understand why Alec’s so smitten with the other man.

Magnus is bright, bright, bright and takes Alec out of his shell. They complete each other so well that it’s hard to think back to a time when they weren’t together. Jace wanted to experience a love like theirs; a love that could knock the air out of your lungs and that solid presence in life everyone so desperately craved for.

Jace knew just whom he wanted to share that with, but he had no idea what he should do about it. As he listened to the couple drift off to sleep, mumbling sleepy words to another until they were snoring in the same rhythm, the aching feeling in his chest only grows worse.

He turns off the sound of his phone and sends Maia a text. When she left for London, they came to an agreement to try to be friends. That was the best decision they could’ve done: Maia was one of his best friends, and he loved her to bits.

  _”I think I’m in love.”_

Maia answers not more than a few seconds later.  _”That’s neat, J. Happy for u :)”_

Yeah, well, Jace isn’t happy about it, but he’s pleased that she has his back in this.  _”He’s my friend?? Can’t tell him, it could ruin stuff.”_

Maia holds nothing back, and even though her words are ridiculous, it makes Jace laugh quietly to himself.  _”U kind of hunt ghosts for a living? U have srsly weird phobias if u think that’s less scary than admitting ur feelings to some1.”_

_”I’d go 1v1 with a ghost 24/7 rather than confess what I feel, M, u know that.”_

It takes time before Maia answers, and Jace begins to wonder if she’s gone to bed or what’s she up to that could take so much time. He has no idea about what time it is in London, but it’s probably illegally early.

_”U should tell them, u’ll feel better. Much better, believe me. Miss you, J. x”_

_”Miss u too, M. x”_

Jace puts the phone down. Even though he cradles the pillow against his chest, burying his head against it in what looks like an almost suffocating manner, he doesn’t fall asleep. He’s thinking about the small hole in him that’s shaped as a tiny Maia that won’t be filled until she’s back from London again; he’s thinking about Simon’s fingertips pushing blonde strands behind his ears, and it sends a tingling shiver down his spine.

When he finally falls asleep, he does it while thinking about how his heart missed a beat over Simon’s smile. He falls asleep with the thought of it becoming more than just one of his hopeless dreams for the future. Frankly, Jace’s quite keen on keeping Simon in it.


	2. The Investigation of Letchworth Village (and budding feelings)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes to Letchworth Village to do their joint investigation, and Jace comes to the conclusion that it's time for him to tell Simon how he feels. But then again, he's never been the dude with the best timing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> This is very, very, very overdue and I'd like to apologise for taking so long to finish this. It's been a few strange, stressful months since I posted the first part, and it's made me more or less fall out of the fandom for the most part. 
> 
> I didn't want to leave this unfinished, so I've fought with tooth and nail to get this done, despite my lacking imagination and motivation. I hope it was somewhat worth the wait, and that it ain't too bad. Since I've fallen out of SH quite a bit, I'm not sure I still make the character believable and I really tried my best here, hopefully I didn't screw it up too bad.
> 
> Most of the odd descriptions comes from videos on Youtube I've watched about Letchworth Village (a certain hole, the dude who lays down in the morgue etc) so those actually exist in real life! Search for Letchworth Village on Youtub and it'll come up. :)
> 
> Anyway, if you want more of Spooktacles, I have some extra scenes in another story, [Spooktacles: The Missing Scenes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12264798/chapters/27872712), if you're interested. 
> 
> All errors are mine, I'm not English and I will come back and edit and correct everything more with time, but I've tried to fix the most obvious ones at least.
> 
> Enjoy! xx

**2.**

  
****

 

”Climb that pillar.”

Jace shifts his gaze between Simon and the concrete pole. It’s not vey tall, more thick if anything, so he’s not quite sure what Simon means. He could probably sit on it straight away, it would probably be more difficult to climb the thing than _not_ doing it.

The others are unloading gear from the van: Clary goes through every piece of equipment, all while Izzy records it for _Lightwood’s Bane_ ’s vlog. Jace’s not sure why him and Simon aren’t helping out, but Clary looks like she can handle it on her own: she’s good at explaining, and even better at behaving like a proper human by maintaining eye-contact instead of looking down at Izzy’s top. Admirable in every way (Jace can’t help that he’s bound to glance just a little whenever Simon bends over. He’s only human after all, and Simon have some really nice.. _assets)._

”Do you want me to climb that thing?” Jace points at the pole in disbelief. ”You realise I could just, sit on in straight away right?”

Simon pokes at Jace’s bicep, hard enough for Jace to try to batter his hand away. ”Show me some of those muscles you got hiding in there. Are you a man or a mouse?”

Worst tactic of persuasion ever. Yet, Jace still finds himself crouching down in front of the pole, taking a good hold around it with his arms before spreading his legs. The position he’s in is comical to say the least, Jace can’t stop thinking about the striking similarity with how a koala holds onto trees. 

”I’m no man nor mouse,” he grits out while using all of his strength to hold all of his weight in place. ”I am but a simple koala, trying to find my way in life. One climb at a time.” This is one of the most ridiculous things Simon’s ever made him do: if he could just, _not_ be such a tool when it comes to that guy (things wouldn’t be as fun) he could regain some of his credibility.

He’s pretty sure it took Alec one look at how he acted around Simon to understand how smitten Jace truly is, because Alec kept sending him these amused winks with wiggling eyebrows whenever Jace said something to Simon the entire drive over here.

Simon’s wheezing, and then, he’s right beside Jace and he’s not alone. Right beside him is Magnus with his camera rolling; Jace feels his motivation to exist drain out of his body, because this will ruin what little credibility he has left _online_ too if it gets out.

”As you can see, here we have a wild koala in it’s natural habitat,” Simon gestures to Jace, doing his best impression of an Australian accent but let’s just be real here, it’s not working _at all._ ”Holding onto this pillar for dear life, because koalas' around this part of America only gets nutrition from the stone. If we look closely, we’re able to see how the koala has to lick the stone to get the food it needs to survive the winter.”

Simon’s so into it, crouching and intensely observing every move Jace makes and Jace can’t even believe how any of them haven’t burst out laughing at this point. Jace plays along, because of _course_ he does, poking his tongue out just a tiny bit to touch the pillar, just to see how Simon would react.

Magnus is reduced into a mess of sobs and hysterical giggles at this point, the only one of them that still has some common sense left.

”See, the koala’s feeding. Remarkable, never seen such a prime example in the wild before,” Simon keeps going, deepening the horrible attempt at an accent he’s got going. ”Now, let’s see if this male can climb the pillar and try to attract a mate.”

Jace has to force his laugh down with every fiber of his being. He pulls himself upwards, feeling how his clothes drags against the uneven stone. If this ruins his favourite _Pulp Fiction_ shirt, Simon’s gonna pay the price for it. 

”Majestic, what a marvellous specimen we’re lucky enough to catch on film today,” Simon exclaims, gesturing for Magnus to sit down beside him, as they were looking at a real animal out in the wild. ”It’s important not to disturb the koala as it does it’s ritual to attract a nearby mate. If the koala sees us at this point, it’s going to run off and never to be seen by humanity again. The mating ritual in itself is simple but effective: the koala flaps with it’s arms and does this alarming, high-pitched sound. Sends chills down my spine every time I come across it.”

Flapping once with his arms, Jace’s not able to hold the laugh inside any longer. He almost topples off the pillar with how hard he’s laughing, just like Magnus who’s sprawled out on the ground: crying and wheezing for air. It takes no more than a couple of seconds for Simon to join in, the three of them sounding like a bunch of hyenas out in the savannah. 

Izzy, Clary and Alec watch them with confusion written all over their faces. 

”I want to know, but I’m somewhat afraid of what the answer might be,” Clary says loud enough for the laughing trio to hear her. ”Izzy, Alec, any suggestions? Are they high or just out of this world?”

”They just did - oh my _god,_ they - they just,” Magnus wheezes out, wiping at the tears rolling down his cheeks still with his shoulders shaking heavily with laughter. ”Worst Steve Irwing impression I’ve ever seen.”

”If that footage comes out online I’m gonna sue both of you,” Jace says once he regains the ability to speak coherent words. ”Literally, that can’t come out online.” 

”I could give you the longest hug right now for playing along, Jace,” Simon’s all rosy from laughing, wiping at the tears that’s running down his cheeks. ”I’m gonna edit it into a ten hour remix and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

”Working with you two are like working with a bunch of kids, seriously,” Clary sighs, rolling her eyes as a tiny smile starts tugging at her lips. Being the leader of the group, she surely nursed her responsibility as being the responsible one with care. With Jace joining the team, it was a miracle that she could put up with both him and Simon when they began with their antics. ”Izzy, you and Magnus aren’t needing a ghost hunter down in LA by any means? These dorks can certainly handle themselves.” Jace and Simon looks at each other instantly, rolling their eyes in unison over Clary’s words. They would function just fine without her, if one looked past the facts that they would be too scared to enter any of the places they visit and would most likely end up screaming at one another outside in dark parking lots. Still, it would be considered entertainment for _some_ people.

Izzy laughs; somehow it makes her look even more like a superstar, with her big sunglasses and wavy hair. Jace, being the good friend he is, zooms in just slightly on Clary’s face when Clary looks over at his sister. Comedy gold right there. ”I’m not sure we need a ghost hunter, but we always need more people to use as models for our make ups, that’s the only thing I can offer sadly.”

”Would be nice to have someone that _enjoys_ being in our videos for once,” Magnus says, still giggling while he looks over at Alec, who seems completely uninterested by the entire conversation. He’s looking at the rundown building and the property’s grounds: the reason to why all of them are here today. It doesn’t stop Magnus from continuing, more the opposite. ”Not that we’re forcing _anyone_ to participate, but _someone’s_ agreed to help out and never does it, makes me sad.”

”Hey, isn’t that the lady you mentioned earlier, Clary? The one we’d be interviewing?” Alec ignores Magnus’ statements, but he flashes him a grin that feels close to private before glancing back over at the entrance of the closest building.

Alec’s right. There is a woman slowly making her way across the grass towards where they’re standing, the print of her dress almost matching all the horrible, brightly coloured graphic tees Simon keeps insisting on wearing whenever he goes out the door. 

The woman waves when she notices that they’re looking at her. All of them waves back, Clary even offering her a ”hello!” to make the group seem a bit friendlier. Six people ganging up outside of an old, abandoned mental institution could be classified as odd and alarming behaviour for the easily startled. 

”Are you the kids from the You Tube?” the woman asks once she’s gotten a bit closer. She extends her hand in greeting to the one closest to her, which happens to be Alec. ”I’m Diana, I keep track on this place along with a team of groundkeepers.” She continues through the line, shaking hands and greeting everyone.

”Yes, I’m Clary, Clary Fray. We’ve spoken on the phone,” Clary smiles when Diana reaches her. ”Do you mind answering some of our questions? We’d like to know a bit more about the institute when it was still up and running.”  
  
”Of course, come, we can sit over there by the benches. I’ll try to answer any questions you have.”  


 

*~*

  
During the following hours, the group talks to a few more people who all have stories to share about the old institution. They hear stories about patients spending their entire lives at the facility, sometimes living happily and in peace, while others had more troubled stays.

Whenever someone shares details about a visit that’s left an impact on them, Izzy looks like she might burst with excitement. She’s even more into the questioning than Clary is; anticipation for the coming night coming off her in waves. Clary keeps stealing glances at her when Izzy’s too busy talking to one of the caretakers, Henry,and the looks are anything but subtle: full to the brim with fondness.

Magnus also chirps in with questions dripping with curiosity, trying his best to understand everything about this place and the belief people have in the paranormal. Where Izzy’s bubbling and loud with excitement, Magnus is more discreet but no stranger to let his curiosity about the unknown take the wheel.

Alec’s mainly silent; the voice of skepticism in a group made up of mixed believers. He’s not the one to rain one anyone’s parade (unless it’s Jace’s, he gets special treatment like that) and shows interest in all of the people they interview for the episode.

Jace couldn’t be happier about having them all there; they make fine additions to the team, and he can’t deny that he’s happy about Simon trotting over to him more often than on their usual investigations: offering bits and pieces of trivia, or just lingering by Jace’s side while Jace records everything with a smile.

 

As the day progresses, the team learn more about the place they’ve chosen to investigate. Letchworth Village used to be a institution for treatment of the mentally and physically disabled back in the day: the place itself was built in 1911, and it’s been standing tall ever since. On paper, it might sound like a place of goodness, but there’s a lot of reasons to believe that beyond the walls, a lot of concerning things were able to go on quietly; without the supervision of the government.

The first tries of the pollo vaccine on children were conducted here, along with doctors saving organs and brains after the residents deaths for further study. It’s vile and disrespectful, the truth of it making Jace’s stomach knot itself together with discomfort. He simply cannot understand how a place that’s meant for treatment can bring so much pain: for these reasons alone, he’s sure there can be spirits still milling around, searching after a final peace that may never come to them.

Eternal life, Jace thinks, is highly overrated. He would never want to come back as a ghost, not even for the fun of haunting his friends and family. To walk this Earth for the rest of time? That's just  _sad._

”Did you hear about how the staff here just buried the deceased out in the field?” Simon asks. They’re getting a tour around the grounds by Henry, currently crossing one of the fields to get to one of the dormitories. ”That’s fucked; they didn’t even get headstones, just a monument much later to honor their deaths. Who knows how many people got lost and forgotten in this place?”

”Yeah, it’s disheartening,” Jace agrees with a sigh. ”It only shut like, twenty years ago. Things possibly couldn’t be that bad when the gates closed for good, right?”

”Hopefully not,” Simon says, stuffing his hands into his pockets. ”With all of the sad history that comes with this place, I’d be surprised if we can’t make contact with someone tonight. At least it’s one chance for one of the spirits to make themselves known again, really.”

”We’re ghost-therapists: giving them a chance to talk about what happened,” Jace says, tiny smile tugging at his lips. His words manages to drag out a dry chuckle out of Simon, who nudges Jace’s elbow gently with his own.

”That’s one way to put it,” Simon says. ”I kind of like that, sounds much better than paranormal investigator to be fair. Going to one haunted place at a time; providing comfort to the afterlife.”

Jace snickers and his heart presses against his ribcage when Simon smiles; so wide, so bright. It’s blinding.

 

Letchworth Village is just that. A village, but in a cramped format. There’s plenty of buildings taking up the grounds with various purposes: dormitories, administration, sick wards, you name it. Most of them are still intact: there’s a caved in roof and wall here and there, most of the walls covered with graffiti and being weathered down by the twenty years no one’s been here everyday to keep it in check as the staff did when the facility was up and running. The furniture that’s left are mostly demolished from vandals who have come here to explore and destroy what’s left, but some couches and tables are still functioning enough to be used.

Someone has written ”legalise gay weed” in wobbly, black spray paint in one of the rooms, causing Alec to mutter out a quiet ”amen to that” that causes Clary and Jace to burst out laughing in sheer surprise. Leave it to Alec to bring out the sarcastic remarks when no one’s ready for it. 

There’s another graffiti of a creature that’s labelled with the creative name of ”Dick Butt” that brings out snorts from most of the group. Magnus takes a picture of the piece with his phone, calling it ”some type of Picasso shit” with it’s simple complexity, and Clary’s more or less in tears over his words. There’s nothing abstract about it, but Magnus says it with such conviction that Jace can’t help but laugh too.

Despite the unnerving feeling the place gives him, Jace still finds laughter and comfort in following his friends around. It’s always strange to walk around these abandoned places, but surrounded by his favourite people makes it all into a fun, interesting occasion.

Some of the buildings roofs are low enough that Alec barely can stand straight, his head bent in a way that’ll become painful if he stays crouched in there long enough. Most of the places are a lot more spacious that even Alec can walk around without too much trouble, thankfully. 

What takes them all off guard is when they stumble upon a small hole in the wall. In itself it ain’t particularly interesting, but with the badly scribbled words written beside it, the whole group bursts out laughing.

” _Free blow jobs_?” Izzy says in disbelief, sniggering behind her hand. ”Very original.”

”These ghosts are some horny fellas,” Alec comments casually, examining the hole. He peaks through it, but nothing seems to be showing on the other side since he soon gets back up on his feet again. ”Wouldn’t want to put _anything_ in there, that’s for sure.”

”Jesus christ, you can’t just say things like that,” Simon’s a spluttering mess. ”The ghosts can get mad if they hear us make assumptions like that.” He’s so sure in his belief that it even wears the ”are you serious?”-eyebrow Alec’s raised at Simon down.

”And we wouldn’t want that to happen now, wouldn’t we?” Magnus says, placing his hand on Alec’s arm to give it a squeeze. ”Ghosts aren’t here for comic relief.”

Alec simply rolls his eyes, stepping away from the group with Magnus still at his side to examine one of the other rooms close by. 

”It’s funny though, you have to agree with that,” Clary says, looking at Simon who’s still looking at the glorified hole.

”Right now, it takes every part of me not to laugh at it,” Simon confesses, eyes light with amusement. ” _God,_ this is torture. Let’s find another room before I break.”

As by a struck of faith, Alec later hits his head on a low doorframe on their way out. 

   Simon’s laugh is the last one to fade out.

 

*~*

 

Once the tour is done, Jace gets to go with Simon to get all of them dinner. There’s not much options around, so they decide to head to the McDonald’s that lays not more than twenty minutes away from the village.

Simon puts on his music, loud enough to almost _hurt._ He sings along, drumming against the steering wheel and hitting the right rhythm every time. Jace finds it so adorable and he understands, right there and then, that he’s so majorly fucked. He’s in love with Simon. That’s a fact. And.. Jace’s not entirely sure what he should do what that fact, to be honest.

Jace spends his time humming along more than singing, much to Simon’s dismay. To Jace’s defence, Simon doesn’t really listen to the same music he does. Simon lives in the now, enjoying the most complex and straight up weird indie mixes, while Jace’s still stuck in the past; preferably squeezed between Madonna and the classical 19th century symphonies. Mainly not music that makes a good sing-along on a road trip.

It would be nice and all if Simon’s phone didn’t keep ringing every other second.

”Okay, dude, isn’t it time to pick up?” Jace can’t hold it back when Simon’s phone rings for the third time in five minutes. ”There seems to be someone that really wants to speak with you.”

Simon stops singing, his smiling face falling at the edges. Oh dear. ”It’s Raphael. I really don’t feel like speaking to him right now.”

”Oh,” Jace says. He didn’t even know that Simon still talked to Raphael, not since the break-up at least. Not that Jace had brought Simon’s ex up for discussion, frankly he’d more or less forgotten about Raphael completely since the pair broke up. They never had a functioning friendship with Simon out of the picture, so it didn’t pain Jace in any way to not have Raphael around anymore.

”You wanna talk about it?” Jace says instead of letting the topic be. Selfish reasons are involved, but he also want to know if it’s gotten any easier for Simon; he knows how hard break-ups could be. 

Simon keeps his eyes on the road. His eyebrows are furrowed together, teeth chewing absently on his lip. ”He called me last night, all drunk and apologetic and it’s just, so not what I need in my life right now. What’s his deal, anyway? He broke up with _me_ \- it’s been months! I don’t get why he comes back now, when he’s _drunk_ nonetheless, and tries to fix things I don’t want to fix.”

”Maybe he wants to be friends again, did he word for word tell you that he wants to pick things up where you left off?” Jace’s curious, he really is, but talking about Raphael makes a tiny, black ball of something he doesn’t like bounce around in his chest.

”He told me he made a mistake, and I said he should call me when he’s sober and ready to just be friends,” Simon sighs. ”I fucking miss him, sure, but I don’t want to be in a relationship with him anymore. I’ve moved on, he should’ve done that too.”

_Moved_ _on_.

Jace wonders if Simon’s found someone new, if there’s someone out there that makes Simon’s palms all sweaty and his breath catch in his throat whenever he’s near them.

Jace wonders if Simon would ever love him like he loves Simon.

”To quote Dua Lipa: don’t pick up the phone. Bad exes is certainly not something anyone need back in their lives,” Jace says, holding up his finger in a rather final gesture. He knows the next words that’ll leave his mouth will hurt him, but they need to be said. ”I think you should start dating again, just, to get back into the scheme of things.”

Simon throws a questioning look his way. ”Jace, how many dates have you been on since you broke up with Maia? Kaelie doesn’t count.”

Okay, that’s harsh. Jace’s offended in Simon’s lack of belief in him. He would be swarming in dates if he hadn’t been so locked on one person, he wants to tell Simon that but that would only lead him to a position where the truth could get out.

That, Jace didn’t want to happen. Not like this, at least.

”Kaelie and I slept together, I think that counts as much as a date as anything,” Jace grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest. ”I gained a cool friend, so that counts as a win in my book.”

”You’re hot, Jace. Like Golden God hot, so why aren’t you out on more dates?” Simon pushes on; Jace should’ve known this would backfire, Simon’s a master at making conversations not be about himself. If Jace knew how Simon did it, he’d be unstoppable. ”I’ll go out on a date when you do.” There’s a odd tone to Simon’s words, but Jace doesn’t want to read too much into something that possibly could mean nothing at all.

Being complimented by Simon, on the other hand, makes Jace’s face feel all warm and tingling. Fuck. ”I’m not interested in dating random people when I’m already interested in someone, despite keeping all of this from the public.” He’s in the middle of gesturing to his body when his words catch up with his brain.

_Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._

”You’re already interested in someone, huh? Who is it? Someone I know?” Simon of course picks up on Jace’s stumble. He’s wiggling his eyebrows at Jace. The gesture is so ridiculous that Jace has to fight the urge to tell Simon that _yes,_ Simon knows this person all too well since it’s _Simon_ \- he pushes it down enough to keep it under control, his cheeks still warm and rosy.

”I don’t want to talk about it, it’s all very new,” Jace lies, turning his head to look out through the window. The not wanting talk about it part is true. He simply wishes the new-part would be true, too.

For a moment, Jace’s sure Simon will push on about it. Clary most likely would’ve, but Clary also noticed Jace’s crush on Simon by herself, so she already had the privilegie of being able to tease him to no end about how he felt.

Simon, Jace figures, is not like Clary in that sense.

Simon says a small ”okay buddy, that’s cool” and keeps his eyes on the road. One of his hands touch Jace’s arm, almost reassuringly. Jace’s skin tingles and the van is such a cramped, warm space - Simon’s everywhere, as comforting as it’s suffocating.

”So, Alec’s the driest yet the hottest person I’ve ever met? Absolutely terrifying, in every way possible.”

Jace chokes on his laugh. He doesn’t calm down until they reach the drive-thru, wiping at the tears streaming down his cheeks while Simon shoots him dirty glances as he orders their food. He balances the brown bags on his lap on the way back, and he wishes that he’d told Simon the truth. Before the reach New York, he’ll find time to do it.

Not now though.

Now, Jace needs to focus on how he’s supposed to keep six drinks from falling over on the ride back to the village.

*~*

 

Simon and Jace comes back with the food and they’re declared to be saints by the rest of the group. Izzy have spread out a bunch of blankets on the grass in front of the biggest building: the sun is still out and throws a warm, nice glow and warmth over them so it would be a wasted opportunity not to sit outside and bask in the warmth.

Even McDonald’s can be seen as God’s gift in the right circumstances.

”This place is kind of scary,” Izzy munches on her burger, eyes firmly locked at the building behind them. She’s turned towards the building, Clary sitting beside her; close enough to touch. ”It’s not exactly inviting now when it’s still light outside, part of me doesn’t want to be here when the night comes around.”

”Iz, no need to worry,” Jace says, voice muffled by his own food. ”Nothing bad will happen to us when Simon’s around. He may not look like much, but man, he’s got a mean right hook that will cause the ghosts to tremble as soon as they see him.”

”I wouldn’t hurt a fly and you know it,” Simon says to defend himself, firm blush creeping up over the collar of his shirt. ”You could probably scare them away from going in there and saying your Starbucks order out loud; they don’t want to be near someone that defiles their coffee as much as you do.”

”I’ve only order that _once,”_ Jace shoots back. ”Sugar does wonders for my health when I’m hungover, what can I say.”

”You had 15 pumps of caramel syrup in your latte, it makes me shiver just thinking about,” Simon says rather matter-of-factly, grinning triumphantly when Alec begins to cough as if he choked on one of his fries.

” _Jace,_ ” Alec says, almost like Jace had kicked a puppy in front of him.

All of his friends and family are out to hurt him, Jace concludes. It’s him against the world.

At least the conversation caused some of the worry to fade from Izzy’s features. She’s smiling now too, but can’t quite stop herself from looking over at the building ever so often.

”Coffee orders aside,” Clary says, straightening herself up a bit. ”Tonight we’re not gonna be in total lockdown like we usually are, _Ghost Adventures_ style. Henry’s gonna come by later with a set of keys, so we can lock ourselves inside and go as we please. We'll split them up between us, and it's okay to go out and take a breath if it's too much."

Izzy looks relieved.

”We’ve brought small cameras for all of us, that we’ll have in small devices on our chests. Jace’s still gonna have a bigger camera with him, and I think I’ll have one too since I think it’s best if we split up in groups of three,” Clary continues.

”I can take the other camera,” Magnus says. ”I believe it’ll be you, me and Izzy in one group, and Alec, Jace and Simon in the other? That’s alright with you, Alec?” he adds, leaning over to plant a quick kiss on Alec’s cheek.

The grin on Alec’s lips when he looks over at Jace and Simon is a bit too pleased for Jace’s liking. This possibly can’t end well.

”Oh that’s no problem,” Alec says, still grinning. ”From what I know, Jace and Simon need someone stable in their ranks: otherwise they’ll end up leaving here screaming.”

”He’s got a point,” Simon beats Jace to it, admitting that they’re usually the ones holding onto one another when things become a bit too scary. Sometimes Jace hates how honest Simon is about his fears; he punches Simon’s arm lightly for good measure.

”We don’t scream, and we really won’t be running out of this place any time soon,” Jace grumbles. ”But, I think it sounds like a plan.”  


 

*~*

 

As night falls around them, the group heads to gear up for the investigation. They’ve decided to first take a walk around the place together and place out the stationary cameras, and then will they split up into two teams. Clary’s team will head through the dormitories where the roof was lower so Alec doesn’t have to worry about getting a concussion, while Jace’s team will take the big administration building and also head down and see if there’s anything going on in the morgue. 

Simon visibly pales at the mention of the morgue, but he’s not one to step down from a challenge either. He’ll be displeased about it, yet try to make the most of the situation at the same time.

They all get small devices which keeps the camera in place and split all of the equipment between them equally. Alec prompts that he’ll take care of the spirit box, managing to scare everyone (including Clary) when he starts it without warning.

”You know, if a demon kills me in here, I’m gonna personally haunt the fucker down,” Alec says later while they’re making their way through one of the corridors on the bottom floor of the administration building. Clary’s in the lead, along with Izzy and Magnus, while Jace, Simon and Alec are in the back.

” _Alec_ ,” Simon says in a exaggerated sigh. Jace can’t see him properly in the dim light that comes from his lamp; he can still practically sense how Simon’s rubbing his temples. ”You can’t say stuff like that, you’re inviting the demons and spirits do shit with us.”  
  
Alec snorted. ”Where’s the fun in this if we don’t hang out with the fuckers, then? I’ve seen plenty of _Ghost Adventures_ and dude, they’re provoking the ghosts to no end.”

”This is for science, not for fun,” it’s surprising how in the dim light, it’s still possible to see how Simon holds up a stern finger in front of Alec (who couldn’t be more pleased about this turn of events). ”We’re here to record proof of the afterlife, not offer ourselves to demons like we’re a damn body buffet.”

”I came here to annoy demons and have a good time, and honestly Simon, you’re ruining my good time,” Alec sighs, but there’s no real annoyance behind it. He’s just playfully dragging reactions out of Simon; Jace really can’t blame Alec at all, since he’s done the same more than once. They really are brothers, aren’t they?

”I’m gonna switch groups with Izzy, this is ridiculous,” Simon stomps off, his dramatic exit causing Jace to laugh loud enough to cause the trio in the front to turn and flash their lights his way.

”Jesus, Lightwood, we’re working here,” Clary says. She’s probably showing her flashlight right in Jace’s face on purpose. ”Can we keep it civil and do what we’re here to do?”

When they eventually split up, Jace’s group decides to head towards the morgue straight away. Simon’s against it - he's the only reasonable person in the group, after all - but Alec keeps saying that it’s the best for Simon’s sake that they head to the worst place first and then proceed to check out the less horrible places afterwards. Simon doesn’t agree, but he doesn’t make a fuzz about it either.

They keep stopping whenever there’s a sound. Simon has the EVP recorder out, saying a shaky ”hello?”. They yet have to get a reply. Jace can’t see the look on Alec’s face, but his sighs says more than enough.

Having Alec’s skepticism around does wonders to Jace’s own worry. He’d deny it to his dying day, but Alec feels somewhat like a protector, tall as he is with a glare lethal enough to bring even spirits to their knees.

Jace goes close enough to his brother to make Alec bump into him more than once. If Alec’s annoyed about it, he doesn’t say. Maybe Alec can sense the fear scratching under Jace’s skin. God, why did Jace have to investigate haunted buildings for a living again?

A static noise comes from the EVP recorder. The sudden loudness of the sound makes Simon yelp in surprise, flinging himself backwards and almost crashes right into the camera on Jace’s chest. Warm, sweaty fingers grab Jace’s cool ones; he can feel the erratic beats of Simon’s pulse, fingers ghosting over Simon’s palm.

There it was. Jace would gladly walk into a hundred haunted houses if it meant he’d get to hold Simon’s hand again.

 

The morgue had been unsettling in broad daylight.

In the dark, it’s close to unbearable. Shadows dance over the walls; the looming metal construct in the corner looks like it might contain a portal to the underworld; shivers shoots down Jace’s spine as he tries to contain himself.

He goes to place the stationary camera in the corner of the room while Simon and Alec take a closer look at where the bodies used to be stored.

”I watched a video once,” Simon murmurs, ”there was this dude and he _laid down_ inside one of these things? On a damn sliding table? How insane is that?!” He manages to make it sound like a whispered scream; Jace’s thankful Simon in fact isn’t screaming, because in a place like this it feels only appropriate to keep your voice down.

”Hold this for me,” Alec says, his voice barely louder than Simon’s. Faint ruffling comes from the pair, followed by Simon’s stuttered ”Alec - what, no, _are you insane?!”_ and the cracking sound of sudden weight on old metal.

Jace looks back over his shoulder and almost falls backwards in shock when he sees what’s going on. Alec might be tall as a tree, but that doesn’t seem to bother him in the slightest as he lays down on the lowest sliding table. He’s already pulled himself halfway into the morgue refrigerator by the time Jace remembers how to speak.

”Alec, get out of there,” Jace hisses, scrambling to his feet. He’s torn between rigging the camera and pulling his brother out of the damn refrigerator; the structure isn’t in the best condition, neither of them know if it could fall apart at any given moment, but? Jace also knows that not even Clary would be reckless enough to do something like this, so he would be stupid _not_ to record it.

Besides, Simon’s right next to Alec - pale as a sheet - and would help him out if something happens.

”It’s not very cosy,” Alec calls from inside the damn thing. His legs are still pooling over the edge of the sliding table: everything above the waistline is inside of the refrigerator, causing his voice to sound weirdly narrow and metallic. ”Still, I’ve had worse beds in hotels than this one. Simon, pass me the camera, will you?”

Simon looks like he might pass out. ”You’ve lost your mind,” he states flatly, placing the camera on Alec’s chest so Alec can take it inside. ”This is officially the stupidest thing someone’s ever done. I’m gonna tell Magnus to come fetch you right this second.”

”Give him the recorder,” Jace says; he twitches when Simon looks at him like Jace’s also lost every ounce of common sense, but this is a too good of a opportunity to pass on. ”If a dude on Youtube can do this without getting possessed, Alec can do it, too.”

Simon mutters vividly when he hands Alec the EVP recorder, but it’s not loud enough for Jace to make out any particular words. There’s only a faint snicker coming from the refrigerator: at least _someone’s_ enjoying themselves tremendously.

The walkie-talkie beeps on the floor, followed by Izzy’s voice. _”Guys! We just got a response on the spirit box, I’m_ this _close to pee myself right now.”_

Jace darts to catch it before Simon takes it and tells the others about Alec’s current whereabouts. He misses it by an inch, cursing as Simon takes a hold of the device with a somewhat frantic grin. This can’t be good.  
  
”Don’t tell them,” Jace says, dragging a hand through hair that makes his bun loosen even more.

Simon simply gives him a pointed look, but something in Jace tells him that Simon’s gonna keep quiet about Alec.

”Shit, Izzy, don’t make a mess. What did the voice say?” Simon says instead. He turns his back against Jace, so Jace focuses on geting the camera sorted: it’s already recording, that much Jace knows, but there’s still a few settings he need to correct.

_”Don’t worry, I’ll hold it. I just can’t believe we got contact! That’s unbelievable - Clary, what did it say again?”_ the line goes silent, then Izzy returns, _”Clary says that the spirit said ”field” but we’re not sure, it could be ”feet” or ”feed” too.”_

A muffled reply come from the refrigerator. ”Did she say that the ghost said feet?”

”Yeah, or field,” Jace says, and he buries his face in his hands at the sound of Alec’s laugh bouncing against the narrow walls. He should’ve seen that coming.

”Nice that the afterlife has some sense of purpose,” Alec says between laughs.

Jace meets Simon’s gaze, and he finds the same contemplation lurking there; maybe they should push Alec inside and make him stay there. One less thing to worry about. Jace likes to believe that the ghosts would be on their side, not Alec’s.

”Alec’s an ass,” Simon says and it earns a giggle from Izzy. ”Cool that you guys got contact, we’ll report back if we get anything.”

_”Tell me something I don’t already know, Lewis. Talk to you guys soon.”_

The line goes quiet. Simon’s opening his mouth, but before he gets a word out, Alec calls out from the refrigerator.

”This is uncomfortable, guys, can you help me and pull the sliding table out?”

Jace offers Simon an spectacular eye-roll. Both sniggering, they pull at the sliding table to help Alec back out to the land of the living again.

 

*~*

 

”Why did Alec split up with us again?”

Not more than an hour have passed since Alec got out of the refrigerator in the morgue. Since then Alec somehow managed to persuade them into splitting up in two groups: Alec went off on his own with the EVP recorder and a worrisome smirk covering his features, while Simon and Jace remained in the morgue to try the spirit-box in the refrigerator.  
  
They haven’t heard from Alec since he took off to explore a different building, and Jace would be lying if he said he isn’t worried about his brother getting lost or trapped somewhere with that big head of his.

”Because Alec’s an ass that wants to battle demons alone,” Jace says, trying to make out any words coming from the booming spirit box. ”He’s more stubborn than Clary; if he wants to do something, he’ll do it.”

Simon shakes his head, seemingly displeased with Jace’s answer. ”It’s still not okay that he sweeps in here as a _mere beginner_ and still manages to be tougher than us. How does he do that, Jace? How does he remain calm?”

Alec had left them with a reassuring ”it’s gonna be fine, dudes, back in a jiffy with some top notch ghost material,” calm as a clam. Meanwhile, on Jace’s first investigation, he’d been close to pissing himself and jumped out of his skin when Simon had stepped on some broken glass.

It wasn’t fair in the slightest.

”If I knew, Si, believe me I’d be using the same technique,” Jace sighs. He takes the spirit-box out of the compartment and turns it off. ”We should try a different room, then come back here and try again. The spirits may have gotten upset when Alec laid in there, or they’re just fucking with us.”

”They’re probably planning Alec’s demise as revenge,” Simon says. ”He’s made his bed, now he gets to sleep in it too.”

They gather what equipment they have except for the stationary camera in the corner. Jace’s thankful to have the camera to look through, providing with some light since the corridor outside the morgue is pitch black.

Simon murmurs a quiet ”fuck” as they step out from the morgue.

   It’s a good way to summarise their situation.

With the spirit-box in one hand and the flashlight on his phone in the other, Simon takes the lead down the corridor. Jace’s trailing right behind him, careful enough not to step on Simon’s heels and scare him.

”Come here ghosties, come here,” Simon says; it sounds like he’s talking to a dog, cheerful in a way that doesn’t fit the old, dusty corridor in the slightest. ”We’re not here to hurt you guys, the annoying dude’s not with us anymore. So, if anyone of you wanna say hi, it’s safe to do so now.”

Simon starts the spirit-box to hear if they get a response. No voices comes through, but there’s some peculiar, unpleasant scratching nosies coming from the room on their right. The booming sound of the spirit-box almost drenches the scratches completely; Jace barely makes them out, but they’re persistent enough to stand out.

”Ah shit, dude, do you hear that? Sounds like scratches,” Jace doesn’t mean to sound so done. It just comes off that way, even more pathetic than usual even to his own ears. ”Demons or rats?”

”Both of them will make me scream, so neither please,” Simon says. ”We can’t let our peers down, so let’s check it out.” His words are more confident than either of them feels; Jace has to push at Simon’s arm to get him going, walking even closer to Simon now than before.

The scratches only get louder as Jace and Simon get into the next room. Jace remembers it to be a storage of sorts, loads of old boxes and broken furniture lining the walls and scattered across the dirty floor. Barely visible behind a stack of boxes is a small doorframe, that most likely leads to a broom closet.

”Cool. Cool cool cool,” Simon says. ”This is so very _not_ cool.” He bends down to see if there’s something hiding on the floor; Jace moves the camera to film the roof, getting some good shots of how damaged the room is in the process.

The scratches comes from somewhere inside the room, but they’re not sure _where_. It sounds a lot like nails being dragged against solid rock, a sound that could make anyone a little fuzzy if they’d have to listen to it for too long.

”I have a bad feeling about this,” Jace says.

”Don’t fucking say that when we’re in the middle of hell on Earth,” Simon stutters, holding up a very threatening finger in front of Jace’s camera. ”You know how bad it goes in _Star Wars_ whenever someone says that they have a bad feeling.”

Jace pushes at Simon’s hand, still with that uneasy feeling in his chest. The scratches are still there, present in the background. ”You don’t know any Jedi mind-tricks that could get us out of this - ”

A loud, high-pitched screech comes from out in the corridor. Jace grabs Simon by the collar of his shirt and drags him in pure instinct across the room, towards the closet; Simon doesn’t fight it, he releases a scream of his own and stumbles inside when Jace throws the ratty door open. 

It’s even darker inside the narrow closet, but at least there’s nothing there except for dust and more dust. Whatever _thing_ that made the loud screech in the first place, at least it's not inside the closet with them.

”What the fuck was that?!” Simon exclaims in a loud whisper. His body is pressed against Jace’s side, warm and solid; Jace can feel Simon’s heartbeat, erratic and quick enough to match his own. ”Did something just die out there?”

Jace looks through the gaps in the door. He can barely make out the boxes right in front of them; it’s impossible to see anything further away in the darkness. ”I don’t know, but I don’t want to go out there to check either.”

”Don’t go out there,” Simon grabs Jace’s free hand, desperate fingers entwining to make sure Jace stays there with him.

The gesture takes Jace by surprise; he looks down at where their entwined hands are in the dark, all while a fizzling fire flickers to life in his chest. He fixes his fingers in Simon’s grip, gentle enough to show that he’s not letting go: just making it a bit more comfortable for them.

”I’m not leaving,” Jace manages to say; his voice thin as a breeze, meaning every word. ”I _know_ how people die in horror movies.”

Simon groans. ”Don’t _say_ that. Say something that’s, I don’t know, nice and takes my mind off whatever the fuck’s out there? _Please_.”

The tone in Simon’s voice is enough for Jace to press mute on his camera, and he hopes that the spirit or whatever will remain out there and be quiet. He doesn’t want to get pushed into the sea by Clary when they get home because he turned the sound off to have a heartfelt conversation with Simon in the middle of a investigation.

”Did you know that Madonna’s my favourite? Not Artic Monkeys, not Beethoven; Madonna, she’s always been my Nr 1.”

Simon’s eerily quiet. Then, he says ”you’re not fucking with me now,” but it sounds more like a question than anything else. ” _You’re serious?”_

Snorting, Jace scratches at the back of his neck. ”Ehm, yeah. 100% not ironic, dude. _Like A Prayer_ is my favourite song. Probably of all time. I _can’t_ stand still when that chorus hits.”

Simon makes a strangled noise; very similar to a repressed giggle. ”I can’t believe it that _you_ \- you, the most pretentious fucking asshole I know, loves _Madonna._ Man. I’m so happy you told me this before we get eaten by demons, I’ll be dying with a smile on my face.”

Jace tries to pull his hand away so he can shove at Simon, but Simon goes soft and keeps their fingers firmly entwined. For being such a pain in Jace’s ass, Simon makes it impossible for Jace to stay away from him.

”You’re a little shit,” Jace says, not even able to hide the fondness anymore. ”I should push you out there so you can fight with the demon. I _really_ should do that.”

”I’m just surprised okay, it’s not every day your incredibly hot, yet pretentious friend - _fuck,”_ the warm fingers around Jace’s hand pulls away; the whole of Simon staggers backwards, right into the wall and if the demon hadn’t heard their hushed voices, it would surely hear Simon crashing ass first into the wall.

”Fuck, Simon are you okay?” Jace asks. He steps closer to where Simon’s slightly bent, covering his face with both of his hands. _Incredibly hot_ rings in his head, a warm glow that Jace doesn’t want to dive into; not when he’s not sure if Simon feels like he does.

”Yeah, I just want to shove my foot into my mouth, that’s all,” Simon says, defeated. He lets Jace straighten him up: to Jace’s surprise, he lets Jace’s hand remain on his shoulder instead of shaking it off. ”I didn’t mean to phrase it like that, I mean, fuck, I should just _not_ talk, don’t you think?”

You don’t have to be an expert in Simon’s antics to know that he’s freaking out.

”Simon, look at me,” Jace says, loud enough to make Simon’s head snap back up. He can’t for certain read Simon’s face in the dimness of the closest, but he feels how hard Simon’s heart is beating when he lets his own hand drop off Simon’s shoulder and hold onto one of his hands instead. ”You know how you asked me earlier, if there was someone in my life.. that I, eh, _liked?”_

”Yeah?” Simon’s voice is so small.

Here it goes, Jace thinks. Here it fucking goes.

”It’s you. I think I’m - no, I _know_ I’m in love with you. It isn’t new either, I’ve had a crush on you for almost a year and I, yeah, I didn’t plan to confess this in a fucking closet in a haunted house, but sometimes you just gotta say ”screw it,” Jace’s rambling, he knows he is. The relief of finally coming clean makes it hard for him to be quiet; he lets the words come out in a tumble, and hopes Simon’s aware enough to understand what he’s saying. ”I think you’re incredibly hot too, just so you know. More than that, even.”

Simon’s oddly still for a moment; long enough for Jace to think that he’s done the wrong thing. But, he doesn’t get eternal silence nor disgust thrown at his face. Instead, Simon launches forward and wraps both of his arms around Jace’s body. 

Jace drags him close. Until there’s a horrible sound of something breaking, and both of them remember the cameras they’ve attached on their chests. _Fuck._

”Shit,” they say in unison. Jace uses the light on his camera to examine the damage; the small camera attached to his chest seems fine, but the stick it’s resting on is slightly bent. Simon’s a lot worse; his stick is bent to the side in an angle that definitely it’s normal; another ”shit” leaves Simon’s lips.

”Okay, so we damaged the equipment, and both of our cameras have just recorded my declaration of love, so yeah, this night can’t go any fucking better,” Jace drags his free hand across his face, stopping to massage his temples. ”Just, we could pretend this didn’t happen if it’ll make you feel any better, Si.”

”Why would I want that? Fuck, Jace, I think I’m in love with you too, and if it weren’t for these stupid fucking things on our chests and the general creepiness of this place we’re currently at, I’d ask if I could kiss you.”

Oh.

_Oh._

”Really?” Jace asks, grateful that the light’s not at his face.

”When we get back to New York, I want you to kiss me senseless,” Simon says, his smile visible through his words. ”I just really don’t want our first kiss to be in a dusty fucking broom closet.”

_First kiss. Our first kiss._

The smile on Jace’s face feels permanent. How could he possibly be able to stop smiling when Simon wants to kiss Jace as much as Jace wants to kiss him? His head feels light in the best possible way; so much warm, gentle happiness spreading through him and lingering beneath his skin.

Not even the demon can bring him back down.

If it meant he’d get to kiss Simon, Jace would gladly go a round against the demon with only his camera as a weapon. He’d do anything.

Warm fingers curl around Jace’s much cooler ones, entwining; finding where they’re meant to be.

 

*~*

 

The screeching demon turns out to be a cat in distress.

Jace and Simon find out about that in the worst possible way. It goes a bit like this:

Jace goes first when they leave the closet, Simon still holding his hand and muttering curses at their agoniser. The walk over to the opening they came in through earlier takes a lifetime, or so it feels, but when they reach it? Oh, _when_ they reach the opening, the screeching comes from behind a box along with a flash of brown jumping at them in the darkness.

Jace screams and jumps at Simon; the camera falls to the ground, Jace falls into Simon’s arm. It would be a pleasant affair if the small creature wasn’t sitting right there in front of them, growling and hissing before running off into the darkness.  
  
”Clary will never know about this. Not Izzy, not Magnus, and especially not Alec,” Jace says, still in Simon’s arms; pressed against the bent camera-stick. ”We’ll have to delete all of the evidence of this _ever happening._ They’d bed absolutely ruthless, _ruthless_ I tell you. _”_

”Agreed,” Simon says. ”I can’t believe I thought I’d get dragged into another dimension by a _cat.”_

If Jace’s heart didn’t feel like it’d burst through his ribs, he probably would’ve find it funny. Hilarious even.

Now he just wants to sink through the floor.

 

*~*

 

”You know, at first I was so sure that you had a secret crush on Clary.”  
  
If the sound of their steps didn’t wake the dead, the sound of Simon’s snort sure as hell would make the ghosts stirr in their graves. Even though it’s dark and hard to see, Jace can still _feel_ Simon’s humored grin with every part of his being. God, that had been a stupid question, hadn’t it? Jace just wants to think about something that isn’t the two of them nearly pissing themselves over a damn cat.

”You’re aware that Clary’s the most lesbian person to ever grace the Earth, right?” Simon says it like it’s common knowledge; the general way of things. ”And, for the record, I was with Raphael, remember him? We were pretty in love for that matter, just, how - _how_ did you think that I was in love with Clary? I just told you I'm in love with you _,_ Jace, you’re something else.”

Jace’s thankful that the dark keeps his reddened neck hidden, because he’s pretty sure he’s burning. He huffs, carefully avoiding to look anywhere in Simon’s general direction: walking through a forbidding, battered corridor thankfully keeps him occupied with thinking about where his next step might be.  
  
”I don’t know! If you hadn’t noticed, the two of you are pretty touchy, and it’s not like you told me about Raphael straight away either, nor did I know that Clary only likes girls, just, _man,_ it’s ridiculous, isn’t it?” Jace can’t help that he starts to laugh, unsure and a little out of breath. He’s sure he’s never going to stop hearing about this now that he’d come clean about thinking it in the first place.

_Jesus christ._

Simon joins in on the laughter, low and close to a chuckle. They’re close enough for their arms to brush together every now and then: if it weren’t for the creepiness of their surroundings, this would almost feel.. _good._ Straight out of Jace’s fantasies, even. Not that the two of them being pressed up against each other in a closet was one of those, but at least this felt more _natural._

He just hopes that the poor cat that screeched at them is long gone now.

”If you look past Raphael and Clary’s sexual preferences, sure, I can see where you’re coming from. I used to have a crush on her back when I first met her, but that was when we were five. A _lot_ has changed since then,” Simon’s looking at him now. Jace feels his eyes on him and it sends a shiver down his spine. A pleasant one.

He wants to take Simon’s hand, but what happens instead is another muttered excuse. ”Clary didn’t exactly introduce herself as lesbian, let me live for once in your life, Lewis. I was just well over 10 years too late with my speculation, give or take.”

Simon’s laugh explodes in the cramped hallway, bouncing against the walls like a projectile. It takes Jace off guard; from the sound of it, he’s not the only one.

A loud thud comes from somewhere ahead of the pair. Simon’s laughter dies instantly, grabbing Jace’s hand for support. Jace raises the camera, feeling bad for muting it now when they could’ve been in a presence of a ghost all this time. Talking about mutual feelings on a paranormal investigation wasn’t the brightest decision Jace’s done in his life; but, when had he ever made a good decision in the first place? 

”You heard that, right? If it’s the damn cat again I swear to _God -_ ”

Jace nods, even though Simon can’t see him since Simon’s staring down in the dark, trying to make out something other than thick blackness. ”Start the spirit-box.”

Simon holds the spirit-box out in front of him. ”Hello, is someone out there?”

The silence seems to stretch out forever. Jace has the camera raised, ready for anything, but he can’t help but feel somewhat tricked when a voice breaks through: one he recognises all too well.

”It’s me, you idiots.”

Alec comes forward, hand pressed against the back of his head. He has to cover his eyes from the light coming from Jace’s camera, squinting at the pair with a wince spilling from his lips. ”Whoever of you two just sounded like a dying cat, fuck you and know that I’ll have my lawyers be in touch if I have a concussion.”

”Sorry,” Simon says, voice small and sincere. ”Jace just said something incredibly stupid, my natural reaction is to laugh when faced with stupidity.”

Alec keeps rubbing at his head, winching. ”You scared the living shit out of me, that’s what you did.”

Jace feels his eyes grow wider in surprise. He can’t stop the surprised huff coming from his mouth. ”Was.. was it you that made that thudding noise - oh my _god,_ Alec, did you jump and hit your head against the ceiling because of Simon’s laugh?”

Alec’s glare says more than enough. ”If either of you tell the others about this, I will deny it until I’m in my grave, and then in the afterlife as well because you can beat your asses on that I’m coming back to haunt both of you.” He winches again; if it hadn’t been so obvious that Alec was in pain, Jace would’ve laughed.

”We should head back out and take a look at your head, make sure you’re doing okay. Then, oh man, then I’m gonna tell everyone about what happened in here. _Especially_ Magnus.”

Alec elbows him in the ribs. 

Jace’s pretty sure he deserves it.

*~*

 

Simon has a first aid kit in the back of the van; saving the day, as always. Thankfully, Alec’s wound isn’t deep, more like a tiny bump from where his head must have hit the roof. Still, he sits with a cold water bottle against the wound to make the swelling go down.  
  
”How many fingers am I holding up?” Simon holds up three fingers in front of Alec’s face, causing Alec to roll his eyes and batter the hand away. The look of appreciation is apparent in his eyes, even though he’d probably deny it if either of them brought it up.

”Three,” he sighs. ”I swear, I’m fine. Not feeling dizzy or anything, just sore.”

”You should check it up once we get back to New York, just to make sure you’re not actually having a concussion,” Jace squeezes Alec’s shoulder, offering him a tiny smile. ”I’m pretty sure you’d make one hell of a ghost, but it’s not your time yet, amigo. Not until you’ve married Magnus and you two live rich and happily off the millions Magnus and Izzy will make from their future cosmetics company, surrounded by your kids.”

”That’s oddly vivid,” Alec points out, but there’s no bite to his words. ”Still, I kind of agree with you. Sounds a bit like a dream come true,” he wets his lips, dropping the subject before continuing. ”Did you two find any evidence? Some scary shit? Because I came up empty-handed.”

Jace meets Simon’s gaze. He barely moves his head; they’re _not_ telling Alec about the cat. No way.

”Nope, nothing out of the ordinary,” Jace says and turns away from Simon’s face, instead looking at Alec. ”Kinda disappointing; I really thought this place would deliver, you know?” He tries his hardest not to look over at Simon. 

Alec, the observing piece of shit he is, glances between the two of them and raises one eyebrow in a telling gesture. ”Nothing happened? _Nothing_ at all?”

Simon’s gaze burns against Jace’s cheek. With Alec’s and Simon’s joint efforts, it makes Jace’s skin feel a bit too tight. He kinds of hates how bad he is under pressure.

”Well, maybe _something_ happened,” he mutters out, regretting the words ever leaving his lips when Alec’s face lights up like a neon sign. Things only gets worse when Alec throws his arms around both Jace and Simon. _Definitely_ suffering from a concussion.

”I’m so glad you two finally got the sticks out of your asses. Seriously, I’m happy for you,” Alec smiles, patting Jace’s neck with sweaty fingers.

Simon’s stuttering out a mess of unrecognisable words, while Jace searches after something or someone who could save them.

As by magic, Clary, Izzy and Magnus all stumble out through one of the doors to the dormitories. They’re all talking loudly and excitedly with each other, Clary waving her arms around and there’s something about her that makes her look like she’s a bird about to fly away.

”Mags, your boyfriend’s a dick, get him out of here!” Jace calls out as a greeting; the newcomers laugh, Alec pushes at Jace lightly as he gets up to greet his boyfriend more properly. 

”He’s _my_ dick though,” Magnus calls back, wrapping his arms around Alec’s much taller frame. Sometimes they’re so cute that it makes Jace roll his eyes; his expression turns soft; _tender,_ when a warm, familiar hand closes around his own.

Simon looks at him with a goofy, loop-sided grin. He’s the prettiest thing Jace’s ever seen.

*~*

 

While Magnus checks Alec’s wound one more time, Clary and Izzy shows Jace and Simon what they got on tape. They’ve gone to collect all of the stationary cameras, hoping that more will be shown on those than what little they have.

There’s not much, but some of the audio Clary, Izzy and Magnus gathered sounds genuinely terrifying. Static, short words spoken in crude voices; scratches, along with the trio’s commentary on what they’re seeing and experiencing. Clary and Izzy went to gather all of the stationary cameras, and hopefully there'll be more evidence to gather from those videos than what little they had. Still, it'd make a great episode; despite the lack of any major evidence.  


Izzy looks like she’s had the time of her life. Her smile is wide and intoxicating, her whole body close to jumping up and down in sheer excitement whenever she tells them about what she thought about particular encounters and experiences.

Jace tells all of them about how he and Simon managed to scare Alec.

He’s never seen Magnus or Izzy laugh so hard in his entire life.

 

*~*

 

Jace holds Simon’s hand for as long as he’s able to on the ride back to New York. He never wants to let go.

 

*~*

 

Once they’re back in New York again, Simon drops Jace, Magnus and Alec off at the hospital. Izzy wanted to tag along too (”he’s my brother too, Jace”) but Alec assured her time and time again that he’d be fine with Jace and Magnus at his side. He feels fine, his head doesn’t throb as much as it did back by at the investigation, or at least so he tells the others; Jace truts Alec to tell him if he felt bad, especially when it’s something caused by Jace (and Simon) in the first place.  
  
They don’t remain at the hospital for long, just enough for the doctors to check if something’s wrong with Alec, but they come up empty-handed and orders that Alec should come in straight away if he starts to feel worse. Jace’s relived to say the least, and he texts the others so they can rejoice over the news as well.

He really wouldn’t forgive himself if something would’ve happened to Alec.

They take the subway back home, sitting in comfortable silence. Magnus’ leaning against Alec, head placed on his shoulder, while Jace sits in front of them with an odd, glowing feeling drumming in his chest. He thinks back to the promises he made with Simon at Letchworth Village; he knows where he wants to be in that moment.

 

”I need to go.”  
  
Jace notices the look between Alec and Magnus, both of them sharing matching smiles that’s the very definition of smug. They just got back to the apartment a few minutes ago; the couple has already made themselves comfortable on Jace’s bed, taking it slow and quiet so Alec can rest.

”Go do what you have to do,” Alec says. ”Magnus and I will pack up all your furniture and sell it off while you’re gone. Payback, you know.”

Jace’s already halfway out the door when he answers with a compelling ”fuck you” while Alec and Magnus laughs and wishes him good luck. Smug bastards, Jace thinks to himself. Why he loves them is beyond his understanding.

The subway feels like it might never reach it’s destination due to the bundle of nerves in Jace’s chest. He didn’t really know what to expect when he saw Simon again, since they left things kind of.. _open,_ so to say. If he really thought about it, he could still feel how Simon’s hand had curled around his during the drive back from the investigation.

Jace has some wishes in what he wants to happen when he get to his friends’ apartment. And, well, due to what happened back at the investigation, he knows that Simon wants this too.

Behind his ribs, Jace’s heart pounds with the speed of frightened rabbit as he jogs along the sidewalk and in through the entrance to the right building. This whole situation felt somewhat like it could be taken straight out of _Notting Hill_ or something just as cheesy: Maia would’ve laughed at him if she’d seen him now. She was never one much for romantic gestures, not in the way Simon is (the ever so hopeless romantic, Jace’s sure of that at least).

He knocks and it takes no more than a second before the door opens. Simon’s standing there, glistering eyes and smile to match; Jace can’t help but wonder if Simon had stood by the front door and waited for Jace to come over, as if he’d known that Jace would come sooner rather than later.

”Jace,” Simon says, breathless and still with that smile gracing his lips. For Jace, the sound of his own name spilling from Simon’s lips is enough to make his head feel like it’s floating. 

”Can I kiss you now?” Jace can’t help but be blunt with why he came here, now when they were far away from cobwebs and old morgues. ”If you don’t want to, it’s fine, I’ll go back home and pretend like this never happened, _but -_ but if, if only, if you want to -”

”Stop that thought, and come in first,” Simon practically yanks Jace inside and closes the door behind them. They’re close enough for Jace to see every dark eyelash around those warm, brown eyes; every strand of hair falling over Simon’s forehead. 

Jace reaches up and sweeps the locks away, biting his lip gently.

Simon doesn’t pull away, instead his grin turns into something softer. Before Jace knows it, Simon’s leaning and his lips are as soft as Jace’s always thought they would be. It doesn’t shatter the walls in the building, nor does it change the gravity or make Jace’s breathing stop. What it does, is to make Jace’s heart soar in his chest while his hands cup Simon’s face with great delicacy.  
  
As the kiss comes to an end, their faces remain close to one another. At first Jace believes he hears his erratic heartbeat pounding in his ears, but it soon turns into hummed words and a tune Jace _knows -_

”You’re serious? Madonna? _Now?_ ”

Simon looks amused; enough to make Jace lean in and kiss him again, only to feel how the laughter tastes on Simon’s lips.  
  
Both of them are too caught up with each other to notice Clary and Izzy lingering by the doorway to the living room. Clary sighs, loud enough to bring a grin to Izzy’s face and breaking apart Jace and Simon in an instant.  
  
”Took you two long enough to get _that_ sorted.”

It’s Simon who responds. ”Fuck _off,_ Fray.”

 

*~*

 

A whole lifetime seems to have passed since the last time Jace was at the airport, he thinks as they make their way through the terminal. There’s life and sounds coming from all over the place; a kid crying, people arguing and laughing; even a dog barking, in the middle of it all, and it’s a different kind of chaos than out on the streets.

Izzy’s loudly chatting about how much she’s enjoyed the trip. Ever since they got back from the investigation, she can hardly shut up about how fun (yet terrifying) she thought it was. She’s so endearing in the way she manages to gesture vividly with her hands, all while holding onto her bags in a way that should cause all of her things to pile out over the floor; since it’s _Izzy_ , all of her belongings stay just where they’re supposed to be. 

”You _have_ to come visit us in LA, Mags and I can search after some haunted house we can visit and record a new episode!” Izzy smiles bright enough to light up the room, causing the others to smile with her. 

”We haven’t even put the first episode up online, and you’re already planning a sequel?” Jace says, eyebrow raised in amusement. It’s not a bad idea in the slightest, he misses LA and just thinking about taking both Simon and Clary there to finally meet his parents and his youngest brother, Max, makes his heart burst with joy.

Speaking of Simon -

”I can’t help but overhear the negative tone in your voice, Lightwood, you don’t think Letchworth Village will be a success?” Simon slips his arm around Jace’s waist, something he’s done a lot lately. The casual touching has always been one of their things, but ever since they started to _date?_ Oh boy, they couldn’t stay away from each other.

Jace can’t help that it feels like Simon’s arm is meant to be around his waist, the world works in mysterious ways and he’s glad it turned out in his favour for once.

”I’m not negative,” Jace says, because he really isn’t. Not about this, anyway. ”I’m just saying that we don’t know if our viewers will enjoy it or not since it’s not _up_ yet. We have at least a week left of editing, if not longer.”

”If you two weren’t making out at any given chance, maybe it’d be done a lot quicker,” Alec shrugs, basking in how both Jace and Simon turn into stuttering messes. His purpose in life, Jace thinks, is taking the piss out of Jace. He’s oddly fine with it.

”We’re _not -”_

Clary coughs. It sounds a lot like a muffled ” _lies.”_

”We’ll get it done, and if turns into a success we’ll definitely be coming over for a sequel,” Jace says, deliberately ignoring the previous statement. ”Mom and dad would drag me home sooner or latter anyway.”

Simon looks over at him then, eyes wide and a smile tugging at his lips. The arm around Jace’s back holds onto him tighter; Jace’s heart is practically soaring beneath his ribs.

To introduce Simon as his boyfriend? That’s something Jace could live on for a very, very long time.

”I just know people’ll love it,” Magnus says. ”Not to be the sour guy at the party, but we need to check in our bags, or we’ll surely miss our plane.”

It takes another ten minutes until they’ve come to some sort of goodbye. Jace hugs them all; holding them tight in hopes to keep them from leaving, despite how much his family can annoy him at times, he loves them all so much.

A feeling of wrongness infests Jace’s chest when Alec, Izzy and Magnus slips away into the crowd, towards the security controls: away from New York, away from him.

He’ll miss having them around. So much.

”Don’t worry about it, babe,” Simon leans in to place a soft kiss on Jace’s neck, softness radiating off him in waves. Jace curls into the touch; wanting to keep all of Simon’s gentleness close, to keep his emotions in check. ”We’ll be in LA before you know it.”

Clary slips an arm around Jace’s shoulders on his other side; she’s still looking at where Izzy and the rest became one with the crowd, a visible longing in her eyes.

You’d have to be blind not to notice how long the two women kept hugging each other before they parted ways. Some people just _clicked._ Clary and Izzy seemed to be two of those.

”I’ve always wanted to take a stroll down the Hollywood Boulevard. When do we leave?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are, at the end at last!
> 
> Morgue refrigerator is apparently a word for what bodies are stored in?? I'm not sure if it's correct tbh hahah, but it's the best explanation I could find :(
> 
> The first bit is inspired by the iconic video of two of the SH cast-members panda-ing. I wrote that part months ago, so I didn't have the energy to replace it with something else tbh.
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading and enjoying this story!! Means the world to me that people enjoy what I do. :') I may not be involved with Jimon that much at the moment, but I still enjoy this verse a lot.
> 
> Please leave a kudo or comment if you enjoyed it, would mean so much to me to hear about what you guys thought about the end!
> 
> Follow my tumblr, gustavtomasbruce, if you want (currently very into Star Wars and Finnpoe)
> 
> Hopefully I'll see you all soon in a new fic. xx

**Author's Note:**

> So what did you guys think of the first part? Was it okay? Please share your thoughts with me in the comments (please be nice) x
> 
> As always, I would love if guys left kudos/bookmarks/comments if you enjoyed it! In that way, I'll know that you are interested in a 2nd part and I'll get on that quicker ;)
> 
> There's a collection of scenes in-between their first meeting and the hunt with the Los Angeles gang, so if you're interested in more Spooktacles, I suggest you check out [Spooktacles: The Missing Scenes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12264798/chapters/27872712)
> 
> Thanks for reading, I'll see you all in the next update. xx


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